Theme: ONLINE LEARNING
ONLINE COURSES (37 documents)
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 68)
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 46)
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 41)
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 40)
The Multifaceted Nature of Online MBA Student Satisfaction and Impacts on Behavioral Intentions (weight: 27)
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 17)
On the Effects of the Application of the Business Strategy to Public Colleges of Higher Education (weight: 14)
E-learning: The Relationship Among Learner Satisfaction, Self-efficacy, and Usefulness (weight: 12)
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 11)
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 10)
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 9)
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice (weight: 8)
New Answers for E-Learning; Wikis and avatars are improving the educational experience (weight: 7)
Interest mining in virtual learning environments (weight: 7)
Explaining changes in learning and work practice following the adoption of online learning : a human agency perspective (weight: 6)
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 5)
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 5)
Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education (weight: 4)
A call to arms (weight: 4)
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 3)
E-learning: your flexible development friend? (weight: 3)
A New direction For Executive Education? (weight: 3)
How valuable are online MBAs ?; [1] (weight: 2)
Brick walls to distance-teaching in the east may soon crumble ASIAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS: Unexpected costs and complexities have stalled web progress, reports William Barnes; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 2)
Some IT TRAINING Remains Traditional (weight: 2)
Breakbulk 101 (weight: 2)
IBM goes the distance for its key Indian staff; An online programme is allowing the computer giant to enhance its talent pool, writes Rebecca Knight (weight: 2)
Ask the experts: Online MBA 2009 (weight: 1)
Online MBA course helps KPMG retain graduates (weight: 1)
IBM opts for online MBA (weight: 1)
Distance Learning for Continuing Education (weight: 1)
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta; New Picture of Personal Finances Shows, in Case of Emergency, Two in Three ''Household CFOs'' Are at Risk (weight: 1)
USGBC launches education program (weight: 1)
Get to the Next Level Online (weight: 1)
Fraud Factories (weight: 1)
5 things to watch in e-learning (weight: 1)
It's [Not] the Technology, Stupid (weight: 1)
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 68)
West Lafayette: Fall 2008. Abstract (Summary) This is the third in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE " Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: What approaches help assure a quality online educational experience? Clearly achieving quality is the chief concern of everyone involved with online education. This article focuses on techniques for doing that, such as mastering one's course management system, standardizing course design, consistency in interactions with learners, and controlling class size. Another aspect of success here is developing a well-honed and consistent philosophy toward online teaching that will help learners understand what is expected of them and guide the teacher when unusual situations arise.
Partnering the Internet with modern course management technology makes it possible for universities to offer online coursework on a global basis.
This is the third in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE "Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: What approaches help assure a quality online educational experience? Clearly achieving quality is the chief concern of everyone involved with online education. This article focuses on techniques for doing that, such as mastering one's course management system, standardizing course design, consistency in interactions with learners, and controlling class size. Another aspect of success here is developing a well-honed and consistent philosophy toward online teaching that will help learners understand what is expected of them and guide the teacher when unusual situations arise.
Keywords: Information Systems Education, Educational Software, Online Course Design, Distance Learning, Online Education.
Popular systems for managing courses provide a range of features and a significant degree of flexibility in structuring and organizing an online course (Walker, 2003).
In order to make it easier for students to follow courses, as well as for faculty to develop them, it is important to standardize the structure and organization of course content, requirements, and basic pedagogical operations as much as possible.
A quality online course requires clearly defined learning objectives and well-articulated expectations for learners for each part of the course.
The software systems used for online education are genetically called course management systems (CMSs).
An instructor must strive to become expert in using the adopted CMS in order to assure full use of the system's capabilities. That expertise is essential for effective and credible course design.
If a course as loaded into the CMS does not properly fit the structure of the system or fails to utilize key system features properly, it will appear to the students (and others) as clumsy and unprofessional. It is essential to take the time needed and learn the details, the capabilities and functions, of the particular CMS to be used. The features of a course management system determine what can be included in the course design and exactly how these components will be set up for student use (Walker, 2003). Typical features include locations within a CMS to store and display syllabi, calendars, announcements, etc. The professor loads the syllabus and calendar information into the system before the semester begins so that students can access this information early in the course (and throughout), and the professor posts announcements during the semester to broadcast information to the group whenever appropriate. Another ingrethent of a CMS is an asynchronous, threaded discussion board (Coppola, Hiltz, and Rotter, 2002; Dos Santos and Wright, 2006).
The discussion board is the online classroom. It is where students and professors interact and discuss course topics and issues in a chat room format. Included in the CMS are features such as digital drop boxes for assignments, online library holdings, support for video clips, support for audio conferencing, and even workgroup collaboration support software.
Included are facilities for posting biographic information about students and faculty. These profiles, which include photos, personal information, and brief resumes, provide a basis to improve personal intimacy between the various participants within an online class. Regardless of whether a university adopts a standard look and feel for online courses, each professor should do this for his or her own set of online courses.
When developing new courses, using a well-established, consistent structure following 'best practices' makes course design process much less difficult (Bruckman, 2002).
Determining how the course is to be divided into modules, structuring and organizing assignments, the layout of the individual weekly units of work, rules governing when to post discussion board answers, etc., should follow similar patterns in one's online course offerings. This simplifies the many decisions about design alternatives that a professor must address.
A consistent design and structure also helps students understand and navigate online coursework more easily.
Unfortunately, a professor may need to use different course management systems for different classes.
Often professors teach at more than one school, or universities sometimes change from one CMS to another. In such cases, more than one course management system may be in use.
Courses previously set up on the previous system may reside there for a long time.
As noted above, the features of the CMS can influence course design, but what is really being addressed here is the need to build the online courses as independent of the CMS as possible following a standardized approach.
The instructor at least has a chance to maintain consistency across platforms in putting an entire complement of online coursework together.
There are numerous guidelines for what may be included in online coursework standards.
One involves faculty and learner profiles. These are key components of an online course.
Standardizing the structure of online courses begins with modularizing the course content.
Modularizing coursework makes it easier to organize, deliver, and control an online course (Jones and Kelley, 2003).
Two to five thousand words of material here would be typical. As the technology improves, this portion of the online course will increasingly be supplemented with online video based lectures (Sensiper, 2000). Students are required to review these lectures and the assigned readings (which may include chapters in a textbook, information from websites, supplemental readings, and additional lectures or video clips) that have been loaded into the CMS for students to analyze, synthesize, and internalize. Once the students have done the necessary preparation, they examine the unit discussion questions and prepare and append an answer for each discussion question by posting the answer into the course management system's discussion board. These answers must be focused essays that integrate readings and critically analyze issues. These questions are an integral part of an online course in that the process of discussing them online is as close to the traditional classroom as students and faculty can get in an online course.
The speed and capabilities of new generations of networking are making it possible to include inexpensive, quality video in educational software. This capability will revolutionize online teaching once again by adding an important new dimension to course management systems for professors to utilize. Students post answers to the discussion questions during one week and instructors critique their responses, usually a week later after the deadline for that week has passed and all students have finished posting. Professors should also post their own answers to the discussion questions to help students learn as part of this weekly process of critiquing. All students can see all of these postings. This is all very time-consuming, but it is at the heart of the online teaching process and instructors should certainly do it systematically, consistently, and on a timely basis (Arbaugh, 2001).
Often, an online course will include a requirement that students dialog regularly with one another. This is accomplished by requiring students to comment substantively about the postings of several of their fellow students each week. Students are graded on these dialogs as well as the essay answers that they develop for the discussion questions.
Too much ambiguity about grading in an online course can destroy the instructor's credibility with the students. They deserve to know what is going to be required, when it is due, and how it is to be graded.
Concise timeframes, clear assignments, specific deliverables, and unambiguous due dates are essential to provide the sense of understanding and control that will foster an effective online learning environment and make it possible for students to feel comfortable and motivated. An individual professor preparing an online course first focuses on thorough planning, but a key part of that is his or her philosophical view of online teaching. What should an online course be and do? What is the vision and how should teaching online really work? What should be done versus what can or cannot be done? These are basic questions with which every online instructor must grapple, first in designing online coursework and then again more pointedly when teaching the course.
How much content should be put into an online course? Should it be comparable to a conventional course at the same level and for the same authence and course credit? The answer is clearly 'yes,' but how is that accomplished? The tendency here is to make the course too difficult and thereby avoid appearances that it is too easy. This really requires thinking about constraints and fairness in deciding the workload for an online course (Hirschheim, 2005; Porter, Griffiths, and Hedberg, 2003). English or Math or Management '101' should be comparable whether taught conventionally or online, but the tools and techniques do not transfer exactly from one teaching approach to another and this introduces uncertainty. The problem is that online teachers are often concerned that their online courses may not be rigorous enough. They feel vulnerable to complaints that online courses are too easy, and they tend to overcompensate and actually make them too difficult. Unwittingly overloading the students with work leads to serious consequences and can threaten the overall viability of this approach. Therefore, part of the planning process must include making certain that both the content of a course and the workload associated with it are not excessive. This is a key issue that must be dealt with carefully and proactively, and early in the course planning process.
Closely related to online course content is the rate of delivery of that content.
If students get behind early, a disruptive level of confusion and chaos follows. At the end of the online course, students will typically be doing term papers or other projects, and slowing the pace of the course at that time makes it possible for them to do these major assignments more effectively.
Some students may fall behind. Others, given the opportunity, may choose to work well ahead of the rest of the class and post their answers to discussion questions early. Should they be allowed to do that? Most course management systems can control when the various units of a course are made visible to the students. Should that be utilized to stop students from working too far ahead in the class? Different instructors would likely answer these questions differently. It is easier for the students if they can look ahead, see what is coming, and plan their work accordingly.
Allowing students to post early tends to lessen the collaborative dialoging among students, especially for the better students who are often the ones posting early. These questions will come up in an online class and the instructor would be well advised to plan carefully and provide students with a detailed statement of what is expected of them at the beginning of the course. Trying to field each question as it arises during the course is problematic, especially after students have already made assumptions that they think reasonable and acted accordingly. Another fundamental issue in an online course is determining the basis for assessing student performance (Bowman, 2003; Brown and Liedholm, 2002). The instructor must plan this aspect of the course very carefully in order to be perceived by his or her students as treating students objectively, fairly, and consistently.
Of course, students can also do research papers or term projects of various kinds as part of an online course.
Whatever is appropriate for a particular course, the professor needs to have determined answers to questions about grading before the class begins in order to assure consistency when students press for details.
With regard to exams, course management systems do have online testing facilities that professors can use to develop a variety of exams using multiple choice, short answer, or even essay question formats.
One does not know who is actually doing the work in an online course, or taking an online exam. Is the person enrolled perhaps paying someone else to take his or her online exam, and how would the instructor know? One way to handle this issue is to have the students physically meet at the beginning of the semester to emphasize course expectations and at the end of the semester for a final exam. Then verifying student IDs should resolve this question. If all the students are in the same geographic area, this approach may be best. The promise of online education lies in its global reach. If the students are scattered around the country (or the world), bringing them together periodically for any reason is most likely not feasible. This makes the general problem of knowing who is actually doing the work in an online course an intractable one.
Online coursework tends to de-emphasize examinations as a form of student assessment.
Inconsistencies are usually obvious when the term paper varies too widely from earlier written performances in the online course.
Having students write papers on topics related to the course is another common way that students are evaluated in online courses.
After several or many weeks have passed, the missing student then contacts the professor claiming something terrible has happened somewhere far away and the student has been caught up in a crisis. What is the professor to do? How does an instructor decide whom to believe and whom not to believe? Should every excuse be acceptable since none can effectively be verified without considerable effort on the part of the instructor? This is part of course planning that an online professor must consider, because it will happen and handling such questions fairly in the middle of everything else can be problematic.
Aspiring to excellence means that online courses must be planned, documented, and finalized before the first online class sessions. Many who teach both in the conventional setting and online agree that their experience with planning for online classes has actually improved their conventional teaching because it has heightened their awareness of the value of better planning in teaching (Abbott, 2005).
In conventional courses, the definition of learning objectives tends to be less formal and the objectives are more malleable during a given term as a course evolves.
In an online course where everything must be thoroughly and carefully documented in advance, the formalized role of learning objectives is actually much more important. The way that an instructor ultimately focuses and justifies anything he or she does with online coursework is in terms of its appropriateness to the related learning objectives (Duin, 1998; McLaren, 2004). Each online course, therefore, should include learning objectives, overall and for each of its units.
Design of an online course begins with formulating carefully thought out learning objectives for each unit of the course (Hollenbeck, Zinkhan, and French, 2005). These objectives are concise statements that drive the course design process. What is the goal of a given online course? What should be taught and what is most important among the various topics to be included? Why is it being done a particular way? These are typical pedagogical questions that arise, and clearly defined learning objectives can help to answer such questions effectively.
Professors must take the time to really know what to do and what to put into an online course.
Objectives should focus on course content, organization of the units, and the needs of students.
Obviously, developing objectives requires a realistic perspective about what can be done in an online course within the constraints of the course management system and the discipline to be taught.
Be that as it may; it is an art (or a science) that every online teacher must master to be effective in the online classroom. The learning objectives also provide a touchstone for the students (and anyone from outside a course who might view it, such as administrators). Students often have a difficult time responding to the discussion questions, especially early in an online course when they are still struggling with understanding what they are supposed to do. Students are concerned about what the professor thinks is important in the readings, and they become perplexed about what to emphasize in their answers. When they ask about how to proceed here, the teacher can direct them to the list of learning objectives for the unit in question and tell them to be sure to demonstrate in their answers that they have achieved those learning objectives.
Administrators often want to know what an instructor is doing in a given online course and why. A concise set of learning objectives can help to answer these kinds of questions too.
Feedback and support from the teacher are critical for learners in an online course situation. Students are isolated and they are engaging in what is inherently the very human process of learning by interacting with essentially dehumanizing machinery. It can be a daunting task, really, and the only dependable lifeline comes from the professor. This is a key issue and it is the reason that teaching online is so different from teaching in the conventional classroom.
What really needs to be fostered is a higher level of interaction among the students and the teacher, a sharing of the intellectual journey in an online course experience.
From the students' perspective, the volume of written documentation for an online course is not easily interpreted. It is a lot of material, and it is difficult to tell what is important, especially if the student is new to the process of online education. It is easy for a student to misunderstand and, because a lot of the work done in an online course is done remotely, the student is often behind schedule and sometimes working very hard on the wrong things, before a misunderstanding can be discovered.
Students can evaporate and disappear from an online course if the teacher allows that to happen. Other students will certainly notice that disappearance. They will want to know where a missing student has gone. To ensure continuity, the class can be reassured if the teacher can relate that there is an unusual situation, without disclosing the actual problem, and that the student is really not missing and other arrangements are being made for him or her to finish the course. Quality online teaching requires extensive interaction between the teacher and his or her students. This interaction demands a commitment of the teacher's time, so the number of students in an online course has a significant impact on the level of interaction that is possible.
Ideally, the number of students enrolled in an online course should be limited.
Teaching a large online course is very different from teaching a small one.
Forecasting the expected number of students is a very critical issue in planning and preparing to teach an online course.
From an economic perspective, increasing the number of students in an online course increases the revenue for a university. Obviously, one can expect pressure to increase online class sizes because of this.
From a pedagogical perspective, too many students in an online course simply cannot be taught effectively.
Where that balance falls will influence the way a teacher must prepare for teaching an online course.
Class size significantly impacts learning objectives and course design.
Take, for example, an online course of twenty students compared to one of forty or fifty students.
Basically, the size of the class determines the learning objectives and course design.
An online course designed for fifteen to twenty students is necessarily a different kind of course from one designed for thirty-five or fifty. It is unwise to take a class designed for twenty students and enroll forty or fifty in it. Much of what has been said in this paper deals with motivating students to succeed in an online learning environment.
A well structured and documented course with clearly specified requirements and expectations gives students the confidence and grasp to engage actively in the online course setting. A teacher that is communicating with students regularly and showing both enthusiasm for the course material and for the online teaching process, and helping them learn, greatly increases the motivation of the students to perform.
Consistent interaction, steady participation, and timely reinforcement are the keys to keeping the students in an online course involved and active in the cyber learning process.
If class requirements are vague or ambiguous or contradictory, students will become discouraged and quickly lose interest. If they cannot achieve clarity somehow, they will interpret the situation as best they can and operate accordingly. This is not likely to be what the instructor intended, resulting in conflict. If students perceive that a faculty member is not engaging in an online course, they will be much less likely to engage themselves. Nothing is more destructive to online student motivation than a faculty member who is not interacting with them. Without significant human contact, students may seek to get by with the least amount of effort possible, and their learning and the quality of the online course will suffer accordingly.
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 46)
Hollywood: Mar 2008. Abstract (Summary) This article is directed to teachers who are making preparations to teach online courses. It discusses the need to re-learn teaching techniques as one makes the transition from teaching in a classroom to teaching through a computer. The examples are largely from experiences the authors had in designing their own online courses. The literature on online learning includes many articles on technical issues, course design, and studies comparing online and traditional courses with regard to such things as learning effectiveness and student preference.
This article is directed to teachers who are making preparations to teach online courses. It discusses the need to re-learn teaching techniques as one makes the transition from teaching in a classroom to teaching through a computer. The examples are largely from experiences the authors had in designing their own online courses. The literature on online learning includes many articles on technical issues, course design, and studies comparing online and traditional courses with regard to such things as learning effectiveness and student preference.
The online professor is required to be adept at using technology for a computer based course. This entails a whole new course design. Plus, an online professor should create many useful interactions between students to enhance their learning. The literature is replete with these suggestions.
One course was a hybrid course (half online, half classroom) in International Business.
The other course was a totally online course titled Spanish for Business.
One study found that "students' level of satisfaction in applying e-learning for business courses is pretty high as a whole (Cheng, 2006)."
Instructors and students grapple with learning the technology for online courses: e-mail, Web assignments, games, course software, mailing lists, bulletin boards, blogs, and multi-media.
The goal is to be able to crate an effective online learning experience. This is the task of course design.
Although helpful for setting up an online course, it is a little broad to resolve detailed issues. The challenge in course design is "what is required is not a wide-ranging understanding of technology but, rather, specific knowledge of how this technology can be used with these students to accomplish this purpose(Wallace, 2004)." "This calls for a shift in the academic role from the intellect-on-stage toward a learning catalyst. (Volery, 2001)."
There are a number of articles recommending course designs: Clark writes that an online instructor is a facilitator or coach (Clark, L., 2001).
In traditional teaching of an international business course, lectures are the main vehicle for transmitting knowledge from teacher to student.
The professor customarily spends a significant percentage of course preparation time on lecture development.
What happens in a totally online course where there are no lectures or opportunities for the student to be constantly using the foreign language? What happens in a hybrid course where a professor has half the class time to deliver lectures and half the time to communicate in the foreign language with students? Online teaching uses different ways of learning.
Online instruction can be used anytime and anywhere there is the required hardware, software, and server connections (Yelon, 2006). In totally online courses, teachers and students may never meet face-to-face, or they may have an introductory meeting at the beginning of the semester. Sometimes, they are required to take the final exam in a central location.
In hybrid courses, students meet for class half the time of a regular class.
Transitioning to Online. When the author who teaches international business started teaching a hybrid course, her first approach was to compress all the lectures of the semester into the reduced lecture time available in a hybrid course.
There were fewer class discussions, cases, in-class exercises, student reports, and videos. This was a less enriched version of a traditional course. At first students received hybrid courses well because they were required to attend school only half the time. After comparing notes with students in traditional courses, they began to see that they were receiving a diluted version of a regular course. Of course, the author felt this way, as well. It became apparent that the new teaching tool of online learning required very specific training.
When lectures disappear in the transition to online teaching, how does the professor transmit knowledge? When Spanish language courses that have depended on much verbal interaction are taught online, teachers can not hear the students speak on a daily basis, how can teachers teach? How does the professor motivate students to study? Some professors look for a substitute for lecturing. They make audio or video tapes of their lectures. Most professors do not like to tape their lectures and avoid this approach. Those who do use them find that something is lost in the transition to the two-dimensional electronic medium.
Experienced online teachers recommend putting the responsibility for learning on the students (Collis, 1995, Volery, 2001). Assign them the readings, projects, and homework and hold them responsible for learning the material. This means the teacher's job is to design the course so that students will have access to material and be able to study it and practice it on their own. In this way, the emphasis in communication changes when a professor moves from lecture to course design.
Or, the instructor could assign the students the task of developing and translating a web page into Spanish for a new product to be launched in a Latin American country. They could also be required to write letters to a list of possible clients in Spain in order to introduce the services of a new company coming from Latin America, which would entail cross-cultural information and language decoding between one Spanish speaking country and another. The second part of the new tool of course design is the use of new activities. Whereas a classroom teacher may use charisma, humor, interesting lectures, and current cases to stimulate student interest, this won't be possible when lectures disappear.
Some online courses have crossword puzzles, which may be based on jargon, definitions, or rules of the discipline.
The third part of the new tool of course design is learning new technical skills. Faculty new to online teaching have to learn how to deliver their course material using technology. Some schools offer training and support to faculty; at Simon Fraser University's new technology school, they designed a course just for new online faculty. "All faculty are required to take a one-semester course called Mastering Educational Technology and Learning (METL) to help them gain a better understanding for the what's and the how's of our approach" to online teaching (Leacock 2005). Other schools have online seminars and assistants to help faculty. Administration can lend support by giving adequate time and resources to faculty as they develop their online skills.
In many traditional courses, tests can be 60-70% of the total grade for the course.
Spanish courses usually include oral testing as part of the course.
In an online course, it is difficult to know who the person is on the other side of the telephone or microphone during an oral test. It could be the student or it could just as easily be the student's next door neighbor or mother.
Since cheating can be a serious challenge in online courses, professors choose to reduce emphasis on testing.
Homework assignments and term papers are an important part of college courses. They enable the student to practice using the material of the course and for the teacher to see how well the student is learning.
Homework is especially important in a foreign language course because practice is necessary to learn a new language.
In a Spanish for Business course, the writing of business letters and writing exercises are the skills which the student needs to develop in order to be successful in the business world.
In other online courses which had developed multiple choice answers for foreign language questions, the problem of language variance had appeared. Students in a Spanish for Business class, or for that matter, any Spanish class, were graded on how they answered something (proper use of vocabulary, grammar, etc) as much as if not more than if they had the correct content. This was not functional for a Spanish for Business course where content is equally important as grammar.
In face-to-face classes, the teacher can take attendance, call on students, and monitor class discussions to determine student involvement. In online courses, there is no classroom in which to do this.
Online chats can be required and monitored by the professor. They can be topic oriented, so that the teacher can review students' understanding of a particular part of the course. Or, they can just be practice for students in a foreign language course with the teacher correcting their grammar and vocabulary on screen.
In a foreign language course, students can be required to record conversations so the teacher can hear and evaluate progress in learning the spoken language.
Transitioning to Online. In online courses, there are no hard copies, and ordering them and going back and forth is very hard to do on screen.
In traditional teaching, one may spend 60-70% of course preparation time on creating lectures. It may be that 10-20% of the time is spent on creating other class activities, leaving 10-20% of the time for grading student work. These are just general measurements and do not cover the full array of college courses.
Transitioning to Online. This proportion changes when one begins to teach online courses. At first, instructors see that they won't be developing lectures, but it takes awhile before they realize they have to work just as carefully at designing projects. They may be used to spending quite a bit of time working on a lecture, but just spending enough time to list term paper assignments on a sheet of paper and then pass them out to students, discussing them in class.
With online courses, since there are no lectures, it is even more important to carefully structure all student work.
There are two issues regarding time when teachers start teaching online. One is the proportion of time that is spent on teaching tasks; 'the overall preparation time for a distance learning course can be much greater than for a classroom-based one (Levitch and Milheim, 2003)."
The other time related issue is when the investment in course design is made. It may be possible in a traditional course to be one chapter ahead of the students in developing lectures.
Traditional Technique. In face to face courses, students have rich communication with each other; they see and hear their classmates. This helps them select groups and support each other.
In a traditional course in Spanish for Business, students interact with the teacher and with other students. The teacher gets to know the students and can evaluate their language strengths and weaknesses as a result of the conversation in Spanish in the class. Students get to know other students and learn from them about aspects of how Spanish is used in the Spanish speaking business world.
Transitioning to Online. In a totally online course, a student feels isolated with just their course materials and the computer screen.
In Spanish for Business online courses, the student can communicate with the teacher through the telephone but rarely chooses to do so.
Oral exams can take place through telephone, though, adding a different dimension to the course experience. When students never see the teacher or the university setting, their online course is just another web site on the Internet.
In face to face courses, students see and hear the professor during lecture, ask questions in class, and visit during office hours. In the transition to online, these are lost.
In online courses, students have instant access to professors via e-mails. It is a complaint from professors, that students ask every question that pops into their minds and they expect a 24/7 response. Professors are dealing with this by having online office hours in a chat format. Other times, the professor sets parameters for e-mails: no e-mail will be answered if it is on the syllabus, professor will attempt to respond within 24 hours, and all technical questions should be submitted to technical support personnel. "The key to communication is for the instructor to create their unique cyber presence integrated throughout the course. Such a presence will make the recommended clear communication, support and guidance, interactivity, and personal learning, a reality (Al-Bataineh et al., 2005)."
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 41)
West Lafayette: Summer 2008. Abstract (Summary) This is the second in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE " Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: How is teaching online different from conventional teaching? By comparing these differences along several dimensions, a set of recommended practices for online teaching emerges. This article examines issues such as online course organization and planning, teaching guidelines and constraints, relationships between students and teacher, lectures versus tutorials, and assessment of student performance.
Partnering the Internet with modern course management systems makes it possible for universities to offer online coursework on a global basis.
This is the second in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE "Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: How is teaching online different from conventional teaching? By comparing these differences along several dimensions, a set of recommended practices for online teaching emerges. This article examines issues such as online course organization and planning, teaching guidelines and constraints, relationships between students and teacher, lectures versus tutorials, and assessment of student performance.
Keywords: Information Systems Education, Distance Education, Educational Assessment, Online Course Design, Distance Learning, Online Education.
Avoiding pitfalls requires careful planning and detailed structuring of every aspect of the online course in advance.
Essentially, it deals with the mechanics of teaching online, including course organization and planning, teaching guidelines and constraints, mentoring relationships, online tutorials, assessment of student performance, and course evaluation.
The first critical step in the process of teaching online is the detailed organization and planning of the online course (Coppola, Hiltz, and Rotter, 2002; Karuppan and Karuppan, 1999). This goes beyond what one would expect to do as a teacher in a conventional course, far more than just choosing a textbook and developing a typical syllabus, for example (Chizmar and Walbert, 1999). It includes detailed planning for every individual part of a course, including developing specific objectives overall and for each instructional unit of the course, specifying reading and other assignments in detail, and describing specific deliverables.
Many online courses include specific focused discussion questions for each unit, all developed before the course starts. In addition to these content focused dimensions, teachers must also document expectations for student performance and to decide how the teacher expects students to interact with him or her, and with other students, through the online media used for the course. Theoretically speaking, faculty are supposed to do this kind of detailed 'prep' for every class, including conventional ones. In the real world, professors generally know their subject matter well and, aside from spicing up a lecture with some new material every now and then, they do not do all of this detailed preparation before offering most classes. They do it as needed as a class unfolds week by week during a semester.
For the most part, that works fine. This 'adjusting it as you go' approach does not work with online teaching. It will only confuse and discourage the students, and they will lose motivation. In an online course, learners need to know exactly what is expected, when deliverables are due, and how they are expected to do them (Bocchi, Eastman, and Swift, 2004). This is most easily achieved by modularizing the course into blocks of assignments and deliverables organized by topic. Call these 'units of instruction,' or 'chapters of a course,' or whatever. They are called 'units' here. Usually, it is constructive to organize an online course into such units specifying readings, assignments, and deliverables that are to be done during a specific time period, usually weekly or perhaps bi-weekly.
Following a regular modular structure throughout an online course helps to establish and sustain the pace of the course and makes it easier for students to keep track of what is due and when. Generally, a unit of instruction includes specific learning objectives for that individual unit, reading assignments, other learning exercises as appropriate, a written 'lecture' (or essay) on that unit's subject matter, and discussion questions to be answered online by students during the assigned time period for doing that unit. All of this takes a lot of careful thought to plan each of the units included in a course. It requires detailed preparation in advance to make the course clear, consistent, and understandable for the students from the beginning.
Experience with online coursework for most students is probably nonexistent or, at best, uneven. If they have taken online courses before, they may not have had good experiences with them because all of this is very new and the pitfalls here are very real (Brown and Liedholm, 2002; Helmi, Haynes, and Maun, 2000).
Typically, students do not know what to expect or even how to behave in an online course setting. The professor must tell them what to do, how to interact, and what is expected of them. This is best done in writing at the beginning of the course.
In a conventional course setting, a teacher may deliver a class one way one semester and a completely different way the next, and maybe a third way after that.
The overhead involved in setting up an online course means that too much change is not practical with online classes.
Once a class is prepared, it can be offered repeatedly (even by different instructors) simply by reloading a fresh, new copy of the course into the online course management system and opening it to a new group of learners. The reusability of such courses is an important aspect of online education. It means that these courses have the potential to become valuable intellectual property (Kennedy, 2002). That value is based upon the design of the course as well as its content. This realization heightens the need to increase focus upon and attention to online course design.
There is a temptation for course designers to develop courses based upon whatever mood or fashion might apply at the time of development. The problem is that online courses are actually imbedded in software; at least, that is how these courses appear to the students who are the primary users of this kind of courseware. It has been well established that a consistent 'look and feel' makes the experience of using software much easier and less threatening or confusing for users.
If students must relearn a new online course structure for every course, that detracts from the content of the course and impedes the process of learning.
Online courses need consistent design, organization, and structure across the various units in a single course and the various courses in a curriculum. That way, students can concentrate on learning and demonstrating mastery of content, rather than continually adapting to changing course designs or variations in courseware functionality or operability. Commercial courseware (such as Blackboard, WebCT, Sakai, or Desire2Learn) imposes some structure by virtue of its innate organization as a software package, but such courseware also provides the course designer with the flexibility to change the look and feel of different online courses arbitrarily. It is this kind of inconsistency that should be avoided in course design in order to give the students a consistent look and feel in the courseware that they experience.
The need for a consistent framework for online courses poses a real challenge for universities.
Ideally, all of the online coursework offered by a given university should have one prescribed look and feel. The distinction that emerges here is that between a 'course designer' and a 'content specialist' Conventional professors perform both roles, but this will change (Bruckman, 2002; Gillette, 1999; Jones and Kelley, 2003; Porter, Griffiths, and Hedberg, 2003). Many universities are beginning to employ teams of specialists in educational technology who perform supporting roles for the online education function, such as training faculty to use course management systems or providing help desk support for online students with problems. Another new role emerging here is that of 'online course facilitator.' These individuals help faculty with online course design. They advise the faculty, who are viewed as the 'content specialists,' about design guidelines and standards to be used for their online courses.
The objective is to utilize the skills and experience of the online course facilitators to help the teachers develop courses that are consistent with the best current practices for online education.
Facilitators also assure that course designs meet specific requirements for inclusion in a given university's online curriculum. This is where things can get really tricky.
Professors, who typically have a strong sense of academic freedom, enter into a situation in which a facilitator, who has no responsibility for teaching courses and who does not know the subject matter content, will be significantly involved in designing the courses that professors will teach. This is a really different paradigm for course development, and it may be difficult for some more traditional professors to accept.
An online course is subject to review in a way that a course delivered in a traditional classroom is not.
Administrators or other faculty with access to the system can review any online course at any time and evaluate any aspect of it. The adoption of this technology poses some serious new realities and constraints on how professors operate. There is a loss of control in course design and a potential visibility to outsiders that will ultimately make many in the professorate uneasy with online education, even after they learn to manage the technology (Allen and Seaman, 2003; Schell, 2004). How to implement online education in the face of these realities is a complex question.
Many online students are uncomfortable and tend to resist personal contacts through the online system or via emails. Differences in command of written English or in writing skills among the students can complicate this issue. It is difficult for an instructor to judge workload levels in an online course.
There is a real tendency to overload the students with work to make sure that an online course, which is potentially visible to other faculty and administrators, has a level of content and rigor equivalent to a comparable conventional course. The opposite of this is that the students can easily overestimate the level of effort that is appropriate for a given assignment and may spend much more time and energy on an assignment than intended by the instructor. Perfectly good students can 'burn out' and be lost this way. To manage these issues, a professor must take the initiative and communicate early with each student in an online class (Arbaugh, 2001). This takes a lot of effort, but it is not enough just to broadcast messages to the whole group periodically.
A dogged commitment is essential for success. It is difficult to change an online course in mid-stream. Once the students have studied the course syllabus, reviewed the requirements for the various deliverables in the course, and internalized everything the professor has prepared for them, it is not easy to change any of these.
In a traditional class, an instructor might decide to allow students to retake an exam or may want to add an additional reading to the course schedule, or revisit a difficult topic while dropping some lesser topic, or ask students to do an additional assignment, or change assignment due dates, or whatever. This is easily done. In the online course, students invest a lot of time and energy trying to understand what is going to be required of them in the course. They do not handle change very well.
The instructor, too, invests a lot in trying to make sure that everyone understands everything. Often students enroll in online courses because they need the flexibility to help handle work or personal commitments. They analyze the course requirements at the beginning, perhaps doing assignments or reading early when their time permits. Changing the course in any way in these situations is not well received.
An instructor can schedule specific times each week to respond to students' questions and issues. This works perfectly well as long as students know in advance that that is the way the instructor primarily intends to interact with them. Many online students tend to be older, and they frequently have experiences that are relevant to the content of an online course being taught. They bring to the virtual classroom a level of practical understanding that is interesting to the other students, a 'real world' perspective that tends to be refreshing and stimulating. Some learners are very high ranking leaders in their professions and they could never afford to take the time from their work to pursue a degree in the conventional manner. Having several of these individuals in an online class can really help the dynamics of the interactions among students, particularly the dialog in the online classroom. They should be encouraged to take a leadership role. Students sometimes feel that they are learning more from interacting with fellow students than from other aspects of an online course. Interestingly, there is no real awareness in these online interactions as to anyone's race or creed or even actual physical location, unless an individual happens to mention these things directly.
Much of what happens in an online course can happen outside of a course management system in private emails or via other media (Bowman, 2003; Dearstyne, 2007; Phoha, 1999). Online collaboration tools such as wikis or blogs may be utilized to supplement communications, or instructors might choose to use various free voice-over-IP telephone services (such as Skype) in conjunction with an online course to further enhance communications with and among students (Chawner and Lewis, 2006; Mindel and Verma, 2006). Once they are comfortable communicating with their professors in these ways, students tend to interact more often and more informally than they would in person. This poses a problem for the instructor because much of what comes up during these private discussions is relevant and should be communicated to the entire class.
In fairness, a balance is needed here to make sure that all the students get the same information as much as possible. This is an area in which the professor must be especially diligent. The bottom line, however, is that teachers who work with the students and build relationships with them online find themselves coaching most of the students individually through the online course.
What the experienced online teacher comes to realize is that an online course is really an organized framework for what becomes mostly individual tutorials involving the teacher and each student in the class (Littleton, Phil, and Whitelock, 2004). Some students require less than others, but personal involvement is a hallmark of online education under this model.
Online testing tools and banks of test questions are easily available and are often integrated with course management systems.
Ultimately, the question becomes one of who is actually on the other end of the line during test taking. Or who actually wrote the term papers or the reports; or who really did the simulated experiments. Even if electronic fingerprints or retinal scans verify that the appropriate student is present to take an exam, how does the instructor know if someone else is not also there helping to answer the questions? Having students congregate physically in one central location to take exams for an online course would certainly alleviate these concerns, but this is only workable if the students are in the same geographic area.
There is really no way to know who is actually on the other end of an online interaction, or for that matter who is really taking an online course. This system can be corrupted. If we were only talking about education, then a student who did this would ultimately only cheat himself or herself.
Teaching online is an exercise in continual incremental improvements. It takes a commitment to quality (Hirschheim, 2005). A fundamental part of pursuing quality must be the development of cogent, realistic objectives for each online course, and frequent revisiting of those objectives by the professor throughout the term.
Certainly, faculty want students to master course content and mentoring students is important in achieving that online.
As online teaching evolves over time, the nature of online coursework will change too. Basically, quality must be couched in the ability to deliver the right course content through the technology in a manner that provides the students with what they need to master that content (Oliver, 2000).
Not every conventional course turns out the way the instructor would have wanted, and instructors do not usually leave teaching because of that.
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 40)
Comparison of the results from each group showed that a number of differences in perception exist, due, perhaps, to the heterogeneous points of view and motivations for online learning between faculty and students. Since many universities are still deciding the extent of their offerings of such courses, this information may be helpful to university administrators in deciding which types of courses at their universities might be offered online. Faculty who are considering teaching one or more online courses may find the results of this study helpful in structuring these online offerings. The results of this study should assist students in gaining a realistic expectation of what to anticipate from online learning courses based on information we have found and studies we have done. It is important that students have a realistic perception of the online learning experience.
The ever-Increasing populuity of online progximi may be due to the rising number of adults who, both for personal or professional reasons, wish to earn a college degree, but are unable to relinquish their full-time jobs and attend oncampus, daytime classes. Fortunately, the technological infrastructure needed to address the growing interest in online education is readily available, thus making the availability of online courses both economical and practical (Totaro et al., 2005). This study compares the perceptions of online learning by business faculty from various disciplines, such as accounting, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing, and the perceptions of online learning by undergraduate students.
Interest in developing new online education programs, as well as strengthening existing ones, continues to increase. Questions regarding the quality of online courses - particularly as they compare with their inclass counterparts - may be of both practical and intellectual interest to academics, practitioners, and students.
Concerns about the quality of online courses are not without merit. This may be due to alack of consensus among online course participants (e.g., students, faculty, and administrators) about how the success (or failure) of online courses might be measured.
Each participant group might conceivably hold differing opinions about, and perceptions of, what constitutes online course quality.
Because the delivery mechanism of online courses is substantially different from traditional in-class courses, common sense might suggest that attitudes and perceptions by participants - students, faculty, staff, and administrators - in online education are integral to the success (or failure) of online courses. Insights about attitudes and perceptions of online learning participants may be useful to universities and colleges as they endeavor to design and deploy online courses at their institutions. The two groups of this study are students and faculty. Because students in online courses are the direct recipients of online courses, and because faculty are the direct contributors to such courses, developing insights about the attitudes and perceptions of participants should begin with these two groups. The roles assumed by the members of each group are presumably heterogeneous; this suggests that there may be differences in attitudes and perceptions between them. We intend to investigate these potential differences by way of analysis of survey results.
In response to the ever-increasing demand for online courses, traditional universities have responded by offering more courses online. To be sure, the mode of delivery is markedly different for online courses as compared with their traditional counterparts; however, it may very well be that expectations by faculty and students differ.
In order for online programs to proliferate, faculty and student expectations of the online learning experience should be understood; thus, faculty and student attitudes toward online course offerings should be assessed.
Online learning courses offer significant differences from the classic classroom environment.
The present study attempts to bridge the two by comparing attitudes about and perceptions of online learning between students and faculty. The results of this study should be of interest to university administrators, faculty members, and students who plan to offer, teach, or take online courses in the future. Since many universities are still deciding the extent of their offerings of such courses, this information may be helpful to university administrators in deciding which types of courses at their universities might be offered online. Faculty who are considering teaching one or more online courses may find the results of this study helpful in structuring these online offerings. The results of this study should assist students in gaining a realistic expectation of what to anticipate from online learning courses based on information we have found and studies we have done. It is important that students have a realistic perception of the online learning experience. The increasing demand by students to acquire an education at times and locations that are convenient, given their busy schedules and personal commitments, makes online learning attractive to working students (Roberts, 1998). Technological advances have made the availability of online learning both economical and practical.
Barriers to widespread acceptance of online learning were identified by Allen and Seaman (2006), as part of a report published by The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C). The two most cited issues in this report are: (1) Students must possess greater discipline in order to succeed in an online course; and (2) Considerably greater time and effort are required of faculty who teach online courses. Neither issue seems intractable; however, removing these barriers may require the development of novel incentives for both student and instructor groups.
The issue of student self-discipline as a requirement for success in an online course (see issue number 1 in the preceding paragraph) was addressed by Daymont and Blau (2008). Specifically, their empirical study compared undergraduate students' performance in online and traditional sections of a management course. Results of their study suggest that undergraduate students in online and traditional sections of a course perform equally well.
For instance, one study, through the application of expectancy theory, identified that, on average, students consider improving competence in performing course work as the most attractive outcome of an online learning class (Chen, Lou, and Luo, 2001).
One survey found that most first year information technology majors and financial information systems majors perceived learning to be more fun and of better quality within a technology-enhanced online learning environment (Parker, 2003). A supporting theme is indicated in a study done by Hannay and Newvine (2006), the results of which suggest that students who take online courses perceive a higher-level of quality in their educational endeavors.
The results of yet another study reveal that self-management, self-reliance, and accurate expectations of learner responsibilities are significant attributes for a successful online learning experience (Howland and Moore, 2002). A stark contrast to the three aforementioned studies suggests that a lack of interaction (the capacity to pose questions, share opinions, and engage in dialogue) or presence (a sense of belonging to a group) or both may result in differences in perception by students about how well they may or may not have performed in an online class (Picciano, 2002; Song et al., 2004). The issue of "social presence" and how it might impact students' perceptions of online courses and their instructors was examined by Richardson and Swan (2003). The results of their study suggested a positive correlation between the degree of social presence and perceived learning and perceived quality of the instructor.
Perceptions by students concerning the integration of online learning modules as part of traditional, in- class instruction were evaluated by Smart and Cappel (2006). Unlike many of the studies cited above, their study focused on so-called "blended learning," where delivery was done both in- class and online. The results of their study highlight the importance of course planning, course content, and student characteristics. One study, which compared student persistence and performance in online and classroom business statistics courses, suggests that, while significant differences exist between the two groups in terms of persistence, the learning objectives, as evidenced by the final grade in the courses for those students who persist, is not dependent on the mode of instruction (McLaren, 2004). Perceptions by students about their instructors and online course content were examined by Johnson et al. (2000). Specifically, they compared learner satisfaction between students enrolled in an online graduate course and students enrolled in an equivalent, in-class graduate course.
The comparison metrics included: student ratings of the instructor; quality of the course; evaluation of course structure, support, and interaction; and course grades. The results of their study showed slightly more positive perceptions by graduate students enrolled in the in- class course as compared with their counterparts in the online course. The increasing emphasis on developing a better understanding of the role of the instructor in online learning, as it might be similar to or different from traditional instruction, is one that continues to draw interest by those in the academic community. In one study (Easton, 2003), interactions among lead faculty, online mentors, and their students were explored. The conclusions of the Easton (2003) study are twofold: (1) online courses are highly laborintensive, both for students and instructor; and Cl) clarification of roles is very important.
Myers et al. (2004) examined the motivation by faculty to teach online learning classes. The results of their study suggest that faculty are interested in teaching online learning classes, mostly for purposes of updating their curriculum vitae and for learning new teaching skills. Younger and less experienced faculty members are more likely to embrace online learning than their older and more experienced counterparts. Another study, which compared the attitudes of (nonbusiness) instructors and students at several community colleges, revealed an interesting dichotomy in terms of points- of- view (Inman, Kerwin, and Mayes, 1999). Specifically, in this study, the instructors rated the quality of their online courses as equal to or lower than their traditional counterparts, whereas the students felt deeply satisfied with their online experiences. The same study also examined student and instructor attitudes, an objective of which was to develop a regression equation that might be used to predict three dependent variables: instructor ratings, course ratings, and amount learned by students. In contrast to the study done by Inman Kerwin, and Mayes (1999), our study compares the attitudes of both students and faculty toward online learning, with the objective of indentifying similarities and differences between them.
Specifically, students with prior online experience appeared to view online courses more favorably than students who had no prior online experience.
Two studies of undergraduate students - business and non-business - were undertaken by Tanner et al. (2004-1; 2004-2), which focused on students' perceptions of online learning courses. In contrast to the aforementioned study by Tanner, Noser, and Langford (2003), both gender and age appear to impact these students' perceptions of online learning. Numerous differences in perceptions were found between business majors and their non- business counterparts.
Specifically, students who were twenty- one years or older, or who had taken at least one online course, seem to have a more favorable perception of online learning. Business students appear to favor online courses more so than do their non- business counterparts. The latter point might also suggest that business faculty have more exposure to online learning course delivery than nonbusiness faculty.
Business faculty perceptions of online education were the focus of a study done by Totaro et al. (2005). The results of this study suggest that business faculty view undergraduate business students as finding online learning very desirable. An interesting contrast, however, is that these faculty perceive online learning as having numerous shortcomings; these include: the lack of instructorstudent/student-student interaction; no structured classroom environment; students tend to teach themselves the course material; the difficulty of teaching quantitative courses online; and the challenges associated with administering exams online.
A study that compares perceptions of 2001-2002 undergraduate students toward online courses with the attitudes and perceptions of students matriculating in 2005 was done by Tanner et al. (2006), the results of which suggest that students continue to express concerns about the overall appeal of online courses. We compare and contrast our current study (as elaborated upon in this paper) with a similar study done by Wilkes, Simon, and Brooks (2006). Both studies focus on perceptions of online learning by undergraduate business students and faculty.
The faculty version of our instrument was mailed to a random sample of 1,175 business faculty members throughout the United States (approximately an equal number in each of the following areas: accounting, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing). Despite the aforementioned differences in research design, results of our study are similar to those indicated by Wilkes, Simon, and Brooks (2006); most notably, in both our study and theirs, faculty perceptions toward online learning are significantly less favorable than students' perceptions toward online learning. We shall, of course, expand discussion of our research findings later in this paper. It is important to note that our study does not distinguish between "pure" online courses and "blended" (or "hybrid") online learning.
A questionnaire was developed to determine the attitudes of students toward online courses. The instrument was pilottested on a sample of twenty business students at a mediumsized southern university; following this, further refinements were made.
The questionnaire was then given to a convenience sample of eight hundred ninety-three (893) undergraduate students (of which 890 were usable) at two regional state universities located in the southern United States, composed of one hundred ninety (190) who had taken courses online, and seven hundred (700) who had not taken any courses online, and three (3) non-respondents.
In addition to demographic questions on gender, age, gradepoint average, enrollment status, classification, and whether or not the student had ever taken an online course, there were also sixteen (16) Likert-type questions concerning online courses and related statements with which the students could express various levels of agreement or disagreement (1Strongly Agree; 2 Agree; 3Neither Agree nor Disagree; 4Disagree; 5Strongly Disagree).
In order to assess the perceptions of business faculty toward online courses, the above-mentioned instrument was modified further and mailed to a random sample of 1,175 business faculty members throughout the United States (approximately an equal number in each of the following areas: accounting, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing).
The decision to use a random sample of faculty members throughout the United States as opposed to using only one or two institutions was to gain insight from a diversity of attitudes and perceptions from many different faculty members and many different institutions. In order to assure anonymity, no effort was made to group respondents by respondent or by their institutions. This modified instrument contained demographic questions on gender, rank, years of teaching experience, employment status, tenure status, and whether or not the faculty member had ever taught an online course.
There also were eighteen (18) Likert-type questions concerning online courses and related statements to which the faculty member could express various levels of agreement or disagreement.
In an effort to ensure anonymity, no attempt was made to identify the name or discipline of the faculty respondents. Table 1 gives a demographic profile of all student respondents, as well as those who had and had not taken courses online.
Greater than sixty percent of students were majoring in some area of business, while the remaining thirty-nine percent were non-business majors. Regarding online course experience, over twenty-one percent of the respondents had taken an online course prior to completing this questionnaire.
The average number of years of college teaching experience for all faculty respondents was 18.6 years. When asked if they had ever taught an online course, slightly less than 31 percent of the faculty respondents answered in the affirmative. Of this group, the top two disciplines which had been taught online were accounting and finance, closely followed by marketing. Of those respondents who had online experience, 19.2 percent had taught accounting, 19.2 percent had taught finance, while 18 percent had taught marketing online.
None of the faculty respondents had ever taught online courses in business law or production management, and only slightly more than 6 percent had ever taught statistics or management science courses online, which may allude to the difficulties associated with offering quantitative courses in an online learning environment. It would appear that the offering of online courses in business is still in the early or developmental stages, and yet it seems that business faculty have more exposure to online learning technology than their non-business counterparts (Tanner et al., 2004-2). A final observation from Table 2 is that, when asked what their maximum enrollment for an online course was, responses ranged from 0 to 100 students, with a mean slightly more than 30 students.
For faculty, then, "the value of the experience" for a particular course is tied to the students' grasp of the material presented.
Again, faculty may view the course content as being of prime concern, and the method of delivery as secondary.
Given the additional effort involved, especially in the initial stages, in designing and teaching an online course, it is not surprising that faculty generally may not be enamored with the pedagogy. With regard to statements for which there were no significant differences, both groups exhibited about the same level of agreement that the degree of interaction/lecture is greater in a regular classroom setting than in an online class (Statement #2). Both groups had about the same level of agreement that online courses allow students to study at their own pace (Statement #4). Both groups of respondents agreed that the textbook takes on a greater level of importance in an online class (Statement #10). With respect to course types, both groups showed about the same level of agreement with the statement that math and other quantitative courses are among the most difficult for college students (Statement #3). Both groups felt about the same regarding the statement that nonquantitative business courses should not be offered online (Statement #5); both groups were essentially neutral on this question. In order to explore these differences even further, significance tests were run between two groups of interstakeholders, including faculty vs. students who had taught/taken online classes before, and subsequently, faculty vs. students who had not taught/taken online classes before. When tests of significance were run between the first group of inter- stakeholder s - that is, those who had taught or taken online classes before - significant differences were found on five of the Likert-type statements. These differences are shown in Table 4.
Significance tests were then conducted between the second group of inter-stake holders, students and faculty who had not taken/taught online courses previously.
Although not measured by our analysis, it is worth mentioning that at least one reason for differences in perception about online learning between faculty and students may be due to the heterogeneous points of view and motivations for online learning between faculty and students. As already indicated, students have come to expect the availability of online courses, though this expectation does not in any way assure a "buy in" by faculty. As indicated in our review of the literature, results of our study are similar to those indicated by Wilkes, Simon, and Brooks (2006) in that faculty perceptions toward online learning are significantly less favorable than students' perceptions toward online learning. In contrast to their study, our study does not distinguish between "pure" online courses and "blended" (or "hybrid") online learning.
As noted earlier, the faculty response rate is within the acceptable range according to a widely cited source in survey research (Alreck and Settle, 2004). This paper did not attempt to address administrators' perceptions of online learning. Because the role of the university administrator in decisions about online course offerings is crucial, however, an understanding of their perceptions of online learning should prove useful. Accordingly, we have begun the process of garnering and analyzing such information by way of a survey instrument similar to the instruments used for this study.
The Multifaceted Nature of Online MBA Student Satisfaction and Impacts on Behavioral Intentions (weight: 27)
Abstract (Summary) The authors analyzed surveys gathered from 277 students enrolled in online MBA courses at a large univer sity in the Midwest.
ABSTRACT. The authors analyzed surveys gathered from 277 students enrolled in online MBA courses at a large university in the Midwest.
Organizations are also using more online business courses, which professionals view as a viable alternative to face-to-face options (Arbaugh, 2004; Kyle & Festervand, 2005).
Difficulties that have arisen with the sudden proliferation of online MBA courses are improper course management and a lack of attention to the special needs of online students (Bocchi, Eastman, & Swift, 2004; Mangan).
More specifically, research on students' satisfaction with regard to MBA course delivery is limited, despite a recent increase in publications on the topic (Arbaugh, 2002).
According to Benbunan-Fich, Hiltz, and Harasim (2005), online student satisfaction is affected by "all aspects of the educational experience. satisfaction with course rigor and fairness, with professor and peer interaction, and with support systems" (p. 31). Therefore, a challenge researchers face is how to incorporate multiple facets of online business courses into research models (Arbaugh & Benbunan-Fich, 2005). Another challenge researchers face is how to investigate multiple courses as opposed to only one course, specifically in the business disciplines (Arbaugh, 2000b).
Past research of online business courses is also limited by problems with small sample size (Arbaugh, 2000a), a lack of theoretical basis (Arbaugh, 1998; Hiltz & Wellman, 1997), a lack of data (Bocchi et al., 2004; Leidner & Jarvenpaa, 1995), and a general lack of statistical rigor (Arbaugh & Hiltz, 2005).
In response to the current state of research, our first goal in the present study was to investigate the multifaceted nature of student satisfaction in online graduate business courses. Our second goal was to determine how these different facets of satisfaction are differentially important to the students' intention to recommend the course, faculty, or university to others.
Researchs of online business courses have often focused on the instructor's behaviors, attitudes, and impact on students (Arbaugh, 2000b, 2001; Bocchi et al., 2004; Webster & Hackley, 1997).
Miles (2001) stated that student satisfaction is affected by instructor elements (flexibility and interaction), course elements (asynchronous learning and meaningful learning objectives), and access (ability for low-bandwidth access).
Empirical research also suggests that online student satisfaction with business courses is multifaceted (Arbaugh, 2000a, 2001, 2002, 2005; Arbaugh & Duray, 2002; Bocchi et al., 2004; Marks, Sibley, & Arbaugh, 2005; Webster & Hackley, 1997).
Webster and Hackley studied online courses from several disciplines (including business) and six universities. They found multiple aspects of the online experience to be positively related to overall student satisfaction, including high quality technology, high media richness, positive instructor attitude, high instructor control over technology, interactive teaching style, positive classmate attitude, comfort with images, high involvement and participation, cognitive engagement, and positive attitude toward technology. These findings illustrate the important impact of noninstructor elements on student satisfaction.
Arbaugh (2000a) also concluded that student satisfaction regarding online business courses may be because of the instructor, student, course, or medium.
In a multicourse online MBA study, Arbaugh found that different facets of the course were important in predicting satisfaction, depending on the course type.
Because most studies of online courses use a single course and one medium for delivery, Arbaugh suggested that questions are still unanswered regarding the sources of student satisfaction.
Student-student interaction also had an important impact. The effect of student-content interaction, such as streaming audio and video, was insignificant, but this may have been because of limited use of the course elements.
Although interaction appears to have a primary influence on satisfaction, technological characteristics of the course also affects satisfaction. Other course characteristics may be significant predictors of online student satisfaction, such as the length of the course (Arbaugh, 2001).
The student input is represented by the gray arrows in the model because students' attitudes toward the practices were assessed on the basis of online course dimensions suggested in the literature.
Hypothesis 1 (H1): Student satisfaction with online courses comprises multiple factors, including satisfaction with faculty practices, course materials, learning practices, student-to-student interaction, and online tools. Researchers have suggested that student satisfaction with faculty members should be based on the faculty members' use of online tools, their attitudes, and their interactions with students (e.g., Arbaugh, 2000a) and that this satisfaction predicts the students' behavioral intention to recommend the faculty.
Miles (2001) suggested that course objectives and information should affect student satisfaction with the online course.
Because a single course is often investigated in online student-satisfaction research, specific impacts on course satisfaction are not known (Arbaugh, 2000b). H3: Student behavioral intention to recommend the course to others is predicted by their satisfaction with course materials, learning practices, and student-to-student interaction, but not by their satisfaction with faculty practices or online tools. Last, we proposed that students' satisfaction with online tools predicts their intention to recommend the university. Although student satisfaction with the university was not addressed in previous literature, researchers have suggested that technology type (Arbaugh, 2001, 2002; Arbaugh & Duray, 2002) and media richness (Webster & Hackley, 1997) are important aspects of university online programs, and these aspects are not related to certain courses or faculty.
At an accredited university in the midwestern United States, school administrators e-mailed 866 questionnaires to the students who took online MBA courses.
The sample was taken from 31 MBA courses at the university from March 2002 to August 2004. The administrators then asked students to fill out the student satisfaction survey after completing their course and directed them to click on a hyperlink to the online survey.
Several research articles suggested that the instructor's approach may be the most important element in an online course (Arbaugh, 2001; Bocchi et al., 2004; Marks et al., 2005). Other researchers stated that the instructor bears a broader responsibility in online learning than in traditional face-to-face learning settings (Brower, 2003; Shrivastava, 1999).
Or, students may believe that the university has the ultimate responsibility to oversee the course content.
Future researchers may investigate students' perceptions of accountability for course content.
A major benefit of the present study was that the data set comprised multiple graduate business courses and many responses.
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 17)
Currently, asynchronous learning networks (ALN) are the most prevalent use of information technology in the higher education field. This is a term used to describe instructor-led online courses that include extensive studentstudent as well as instructor-student communication, and are taught mainly on an "anytime, anywhere" basis, though most also include other media (e.g., synchronous chats, recorded lectures, limited face to face meetings, or computer-assisted modules such as tutorials or simulations).
The pedagogical emphasis in ALN courses is typically collaborative or teambased learning.
Considering only the higher education sector in the U.S., overall online enrollment in for-credit university courses exceeded 2 million students in 2005 (Allen and Seaman, 2005).
IT technologies can effectively support multiple choice type online examinations derived from surface knowledge of a specific subject. Such memorization is not the objective of ALN courses, and indepm research is needed to further understand the roles of instructors and students and the appropriate pedagogical assessment strategies for virtual learning spaces (Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Hiltz and Goldman, 2005; Benton 2007).
There is a particular need to re-design the examination process in online courses, which emphasize self-paced learning, "deep" learning, and collaborative learning.
Requiring students who are taking an asynchronous course online to travel to an examination site to take a timed examination in isolation from the rest of the class, for example, is contradictory to the pedagogical principles of effective online teaching (Alavi and Dufner, 2005). Is giving them an online quiz consisting of short answer questions, not for feedback and self-assessment but to serve as a summative measure of knowledge gained.
The participatory exam is suitable for courses that are either totally online, or for blended courses that combine inclassroom meetings with the use of an asynchronous communication system for extended interaction among class members. Although the study presented here is based on a for-credit graduate level course, it should also be applicable to organizational training courses, with online courses for this purpose an important trend because of the globalization and advancement of computer communication technologies. This paper should be of interest to faculty who teach online as well as to researchers who study the impact of the Internet and related technologies on higher education. It analyzes five semesters of participatory exam research conducted at a U.S. East Coast public research university. It aims to provide sufficient detail so that others may replicate our procedures in giving the exam and in measuring student reactions.
Exam research has previously been carried out with only a few computer computing sciences related courses. Woit and Mason (1998) found that students are better motivated to learn practical programming skills by taking a combination of both traditional and online exams in first year programming courses.
Medley (1998) argues that online finals in computer programming courses can better represent students' learning and can provide clear and immediate feedback for students, while students reported considerable stress in online examinations (Woit and Mason, 2000).
Five participatory exam field studies have been conducted in the graduate course CIS677, Information Systems Principles, a core course for Information Systems Masters and Ph.D. students at a U.S. public research university, featuring intensive writing and reading assignments. Students from both blended (face-to-face plus online) and distance learning sections participated in weekly asynchronous (anytime, anywhere) online discussions throughout the course, as well as during the exam.
Read other questions, answers, grade justifications and disputes. Throughout the whole exam process, students can read their peers' work. Because no questions are exactly the same, peers' answers help students broaden their understanding of course topics and motivate them to read more. Students learn through reading other questions, grade justifications and disputes - both specifically as they craft their own, and out of general interest and curiosity. The number-of-times-read count in figure 1 attests to how much of this peer reading occurred.
The majority (61.7%) had no prior online learning experience with the WebBoard(TM)/Virtual Classroom(TM) systems, 14.6% had taken one prior online course, 17.9% had two to four online courses, and only 5.8% had taken five or more online courses previously. The major data analysis methods used in this research are descriptive and correlation analyses. In this section, we report the detailed data analysis and results from our fivesemester field studies.
Since Information Systems Principles is a required core course for Information Systems Masters and Ph.
D. students, we were curious to know how students rate the course difficulty.
The questionnaire data show there is a big gap between student expectations and the final feelings about course difficulty. When the students were asked to rate their expectations of the course difficulty, 39% thought it would be difficult or very difficult. When the students answered the question "How easy/difficult do you FIND this course is," the real course difficulty level was significantly higher, compared with student expectations. 79% found the course actually to be difficult or very difficult (see table T). Therefore, we postulate that perceived course difficulty is relevant to how the students rated the participatory exam.
Comparing 44.8% of students in Fall 1999 who recommended the participatory exam with a 70% recommendation level in Spring and Summer 2002, the figure again demonstrates that improvement of the exam process did enhance satisfaction. Table 6 combines these results. What is the relationship among these research variables? Table 7 shows all correlations among perceived learning, enjoyment, course difficulty, exam grades, exam grading process quality and recommendation for use.
Since our five-semester longitudinal field studies were conducted in a single information systems graduate course at a single university, the generalizability of the study results is an issue.
On the Effects of the Application of the Business Strategy to Public Colleges of Higher Education (weight: 14)
In an eNewsline on 15 December 2006, John Fernandes, the President and the Chief Executive Officer of the AACSB International, provided some justifications for the need of the concept of Professionally-qualified faculty member, PQF, stating that the AACSB has "developed and launched the Professionally-Qualified Faculty Bridge Program", which includes a "one-week intensive designed to help individuals with appropriate practical credentials and work experience jumpstart a career shift to PQ business school faculty." The basic goals of this program are to supply more faculty members to teach business courses, to provide practical knowledge and experience to other faculty members, a mix of academic and professional knowledge for better education in business colleges, and to help solving the problem of rising cost of higher education. It is usually understood that faculty members have academic knowledge which has two components.
One of the tools that has been used to deliver online and offline courses is the Blackboard, where students and faculty can interact. It is indeed a very useful tool for enhancing education and communication between all parties involved in the education process.
Some universities pay a faculty member some stipends to develop online courses.
The college can also develop a derivative of that course and can ask another faculty or a part-time faculty to teach it. In either way, the faculty members may not teach the same courses they developed earlier. Nor will they receive royalty form the college when the course is offered. Some universities, it should be stated, pay faculty royalty, say 50 dollars, for every student takes her online courses whether or not the same faculty member teaches the course.
There are some cases where faculty members developed online courses without signing any intellectual property rights document. Once the faculty is about to finish teaching these online courses, the college asks them to sign the intellectual property rights form. Under these conditions, if the form is not signed, then the faculty will have to lose the materials they developed because the materials are copied by the university through the blackboard. If the faculty member does sign the form of intellectual property rights, then their scholarly work is no longer theirs, and the faculty member has to obtain an approval from the university if she wants to use her own work elsewhere.
As can be readily seen, intellectual property leads to two opposing trends. The first trend is when the faculty members are paid loyalty when their online courses are offered and taught by any other faculty. In this case the faculty members are stimulated to develop excellent courses, because there are some financial incentives for the developers of these courses. The faculty can receive royalty for each student taking the course, and this royalty is an additional source of income for that faculty. This incentive compels faculty to develop high quality courses, which they become excellent investment and a source of income for the faculty members. It follows that high quality courses provide students with better education and enhance the university's reputation, These courses also can be significantly used for recruiting many students. The second trend leads to a low quality course development, particularly when the faculty members understand the process. When the university does not provide long run incentives for the faculty members to develop these courses, the faculty may not develop good online and offline courses.
Usually, faculty members do not develop courses of high quality where students can receive the materials through the blackboard.
The faculty's product can be confiscated by the university each time that faculty posts the course materials on the blackboard. The course materials will be owned by the university, and the faculty may not be able to teach them elsewhere after they retire. These developed courses can also be taken by the university and be given to other colleagues to teach. The university may even outsource the courses to other faculty to teach them. Both ways will compel the faculty not to develop a comprehensive high quality online or offline course.
Any university offering online courses, or global education (or campus), can become an important case of study to explain global outsourcing and profit making. Such a business strategy, which some universities will employ in the future, is designed to generate more profits and to push faculty's salaries downward in the long run. It is also designed to dismantle the tenure system.
A university offers an online course, say, Principles of Marketing, a course that can be taught by a tenured faculty member employed by the university or by a foreign faculty living outside the United States of America.
If the university hires a low quality foreign instructor to teach the course for say 200, the rate of surplus value will increase tremendously to (19800/20O)(IOO), or 9900 percent. Parenthetically, if for simplicity the average labor cost of the course credit is (200/100) or 2.00, and the price which is determined by the U.S. market is 200, then this means that the rate of profit R is 200 (2.0O)(I + R) 2.00 + 2.00R, or (198/2.00) or 9900 percent.
The profit motive has provided greater incentives for many universities to deliver online education. The misuse of this type of education will reduce the quality of education, as these online courses are taught by faculty members who are not of high quality.
Low quality education will not help the country to be globally competitive, because low quality education creates low quality graduates who cannot be useful for capitalist firms. The opposite is true if universities employ high quality faculty to teach these online courses.
The more faculty members that are available to teach online courses, the more the supply of faculty in that market; and hence, the lower faculty salaries if the demand for university instructors is fixed. Under this condition, the tenure system will be eroded and dismantled, because it is very expensive compared to outsourcing.
E-learning: The Relationship Among Learner Satisfaction, Self-efficacy, and Usefulness (weight: 12)
Participants completed mandatory e-learning courses in Training and Development's learning management system. They were asked to complete a demographics survey and three scales, Mungania's (2004) E-learning Self-Efficacy Scale, Davis' (1993) Perceived Usefulness Scale, and Wang's (2003) Electronic Learner Satisfaction Instrument. These were used to measure the relationships among employees' perceptions of self-efficacy, usefulness, and satisfaction of e-learning.
For some organizations, the purpose of adopting an e-leaming system (an operational system that provides online courses) is to increase return on investments, reduce travel costs, assist with workforce planning, and deliver content without having to sacrifice quality (Driscoll, 1999). By creating online classes and making them readily available to employees' desktops, customized learning systems increase organizational productivity (Kirk, 2002).
The purpose of offering online courses is twofold: (a) to lessen the amount of time needed to complete a training program, and (b) to increase organizational productivity. As Delta Airlines manager Ted Lehne has noted, "It used to take an average of six to eight hours for these courses when they were paper-based; now employees can do it in an hour or less (Zimmerman, 2001, p. 36). In spite of the many claims regarding the advantages to e-learning, the question of whether or not organizations are receiving the maximum benefits from this type of learning has not been adequately addressed. Although an increasing number of organizations are adopting e-learning strategies to address their training needs, more research is needed to explore online learning theoretically and to identify key factors that will enhance its effectiveness. Therefore, the purpose of the present research is to measure the relationships among learner satisfaction, self-efficacy, and perceived usefulness within an e-leaming context and to explore online learning theoretically. Despite the amount of money invested in e-learning, organizations have not always realized the economic gains they anticipated (Strother, 2002).
To date, no empirical research has examined employees' perceptions of state-mandated e-learning training programs. Employees are required to complete certain training courses that are mandated by the state (e.g., HIPPA) or by the organization within which they work. Depending on the type of mandated training, employees are required to complete them on a routine basis, such as quarterly, annually, or bi-annually.
The present study will address the need for training managers to create effective e-learning program evaluations. It can help guide instructional designers in the direction of improving online course development and e-learning platforms, such as learning management systems.
E-learning is becoming a standard method for delivering course content and for lowering training costs (Kruse, 2006).
Depending on how important delivering course content is, human resources professionals may decide to create the course online, thereby giving employees immediate access to job-related information.
Senge (1990) pointed out that job training is critical because it produces knowledgeable, productive, and highly committed employees. The knowledge acquired from training empowers employees to carry out their work responsibilities effectively and efficiently (Strother, 2002); thus, it is imperative for employees to complete e-learning courses. If employees do not take training offered only online, they may not acquire the necessary knowledge to perform their jobs. E-learning could make the difference in an organization's overall productivity and ultimately affect company-wide performance (Rummler & Brache, 1990).
Rather than traveling to a particular location to satisfy training requirements, employees can take online courses. They will have more time to fulfill other work-related responsibilities. The literature has shown that when individuals have higher self-efficacy with regards to information technology, they also feel that this technology is more useful (Compeau & Higgins, 1995; Compeau, Higgins, & Huff, 1999).
The present research examined learners' perceptions of e-leaming; specifically, it measured employees' reactions toward mandatory online courses. Because it is common practice for public and private companies to deliver online training classes to their workforce, employees were selected to participate in the present study (Zimmerman, 2001).
Hypothesis 1 was supported; the finding was significant. This result showed that high self-efficacy scores also had high satisfaction scores as they related to the overall quality of the e-leaming context, such as the online content, learner interface, and ease of use. Employees who were satisfied with taking mandated e-learning training also believed that they were capable of performing the necessary actions to complete them. This finding suggests that employees who think that they can successfully use the computer and Internet to complete an e-learning course will be satisfied with that course even when it is required by their organization. Therefore, employees' satisfaction levels with an e-leaming course may less related to its being a requirement than to their own e-learning self-efficacy levels. Because federal and state laws mandate several employee training courses, this finding is important to note. Organizations ought to comply with these laws and make sure their employees have completed the necessary training courses.
Starr (2002) found that technological self-efficacy and satisfaction had a positive correlation (r.41, p.006). This result was similar to the results of the present study. It was found that self-efficacy positively influenced a student's behavioral intention to use the electronic learning tool (Liaw, et al., 2006). Ajzen and Fishbein's (1980) Theory of Reasoned Action described how these behavioral intentions influence an individual's attitudes. When applying this theory and previous research to the result obtained from Hypothesis 1, employees who are satisfied with mandated e-leaming training courses also would probably take and complete them. Once employees are satisfied, they will continue to use online trainings (Adamson & Shine, 2003; Wang, 2003).
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 11)
Methods are identified that are specifically well-suited for the technical focus of CIS as a discipline. These methods can be extended to other technical business disciplines such as accounting and digital media, although it should be noted that each discipline may attract students with distinct learning styles (Jones, Reichard, & Mokhtari, 2003). Best practices in active learning for online CIS courses are identified, and methods for measurement of success of these methods are also discussed, based on a review of effective measurement research.
Online learning and course delivery have grown substantially in the past five years, changing at an accelerated pace (Allen & Needham, 2007).
Video clips, taped lectures and even short movies are all effective when used within an online course (Austin & Mescia, 2001).
Discussions/debates, group projects, and quizzes are great tools for an online action-oriented student (Vincent & Ross). Keeping these students busy and engaged in the learning process is critical. Reading or listening to directions will cause these students to lose focus, become disinterested and frustrated with the online course (Dewar & Whittington, 2000). Regardless of the medium in which they are presented, components of good active learning activities remain the same. These activities should contain the following components: a defined start and end, a focused objective, easy to read and complete directions, a means of feedback, and also an explanation of the technology being used in support of the exercise (Austin & Mescia, 2001). Several active learning strategies can be used in the online classroom as successfully as they can be in the traditional classroom.
The "no significant difference" phenomenon has encouraged comparative research studies to demonstrate that most technology-based courses produce learning outcomes that are equivalent to traditional courses (Twigg, 2003). Discussions- the use of virtual chat sessions and bulletin boards provides online learners with an opportunity to carefully formulate thoughts before formally sharing them with classmates, facilitating higher-order thinking (Meyer, 2003). Projects- projects can be completed individually or in groups, simulating virtual teams much like those used in global enterprises (Anne, Gabriele, & Blake, 2004).
Podcasting- The use of audio files to deliver content to learners allows students to hear the instructors voice, to pick up on the subtle verbal cues that an instructor may provide, and to engage in a portable and interactive course segment (Stephen, 2005). When creating an online course environment, it is important for the course developer to consider fundamental design practices, including: understanding the context and learning environment, developing strategies to support learning such as directions and sources of information, learner assessment, and designing with active learner participation in mind (Austin & Mescia, 2001). These design principles must be fit to the topic and content of the course, beginning with the basic instructional design and continuing with good teaching practices (Austin & Mescia).
As the framework of the course begins to take shape, it is important to consider supplemental tools to reinforce difficult concepts and opportunities for learning reinforcement. Tools such as podcasts and videos can be used to facilitate comprehension and retention of these concepts (Stephen, 2005).
Often, the measurement of success in online learning is dependent upon the unit of analysis (Preece, 2001). Message boards and chat discussions in online learning communities may be measured by measurements such as the number of participants, number of messages in a given time frame, number of messages related to the topic, and satisfaction of the learners (Preece). Many of these metrics are similar to those used in the traditional classroom, as noted by Neuhauser's (2002) side-by-side comparison of online and traditional course delivery. It is important to note that Neuhauser's study found no significant differences between learning preferences, styles, or grades between traditional and online courses being delivered simultaneously by the same instructor using the same instructional materials. The technology acceptance model (TAM) states that users' attitudes toward technology are influenced by their belief that the technology is useful and easy to use, ultimately impacting their decision to adopt the technology (Saade & Bahli, 2005). Recent work by Gribbins (2007) used the TAM to demonstrate that learners perceive podcasting to be a useful tool for learning, even though learners show doubt about potential effectiveness of podcasting to improve their individual performance.
Measurements to establish the effectiveness of podcasting and attitude toward podcasting were established via a survey based on the TAM. TAM has also been used to evaluate streaming video and video media effectiveness (Lee, Cheung, & Chen, 2005). The measurement of success in the use of projects, both individual and group, in the online environment must use a linkage between course objectives and project assignment content (Picciano, 2002).
Growth and interest in online learning has resulted in an expansion of the use of online courses in universities globally (Allen & Needham, 2007).
A variety of best practices in online active learning have been discussed, with special application to the technical nature of CIS courses.
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 10)
The authors used key engagement dimensions that the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) defined to measure student engagement in online courses from 3 universities.
Weiss, Knowlton, and Speck (2000) discussed the use of technology to facilitate the aims of the seven principles. Palloff and Pratt (2001) maintained that a sound, effective online course must abide by these same principles.
All the students were enrolled in at least one totally online course.
Two direct benefits would be increased external validity and statistical power. Because ALN research has been historically reliant on many studies based on individual courses, many of their findings may reflect idiosyncrasies of the instructor rather than provide accurate prescriptions for best practice in web-based course delivery.
Students were most engaged in analytical work. More than half of the respondents were at least often engaged in this way, whereas almost all respondents (96%) reported at least some engagement. This was followed by course work that required the application of theories and concepts to solve problems.
Each course typically required the student to read between one and three textbooks and between one and six articles.
The essence of engagement depends on students' participation in course-related materials (Wilbur, 1998). This circumstance led to the conclusion that the modest level of interaction on readings and class notes has room for growth.
The online course curriculum did not usually require the development of Web pages and creation of multimedia presentations. Approximately 40% of students were involved occasionally in this type of coursework, whereas 24% undertook such creative coursework at least frequently.
Though the student has the responsibility to engage in academic activities, it is the faculty member's role to create purposeful course designs that promote interaction, participation, and communication in the online learning environment (Johnson, 2003; Weiss et al., 2000).
Slightly more emphasis can be given to incorporating assignments that require synthesis of and making judgments on course-related materials.
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 9)
Comparison of the results from each group showed significant differences between the administrators' and faculty perceptions of online learning on eight of eighteen statements. Since many universities are still deciding the extent of their offerings of such courses, this information may be helpful to university administrators in deciding which types of courses at their universities might be offered online. Faculty who are considering teaching one or more online courses may find the results of this study helpful in structuring these online offerings. Administrators need to be aware of the perceptions, concerns, and indeed, the anxieties of both their peers and faculty in order to enhance the likelihood that online courses will be viewed as valuable, and valued, by both constituencies. If administrators can effectively communicate the benefits perceived by their peers and faculty, while belaying the concerns of these groups, then the probability of a successful outcome will be enhanced. Online learning may not be for everyone - including both administrators and faculty - but a clearer grasp of administrator and faculty perceptions may go a long way in contributing to making the online experience a positive one for all who pursue it.
The technological infrastructure needed to address the growing interest in online education is readily available, thus making the availability of online courses both economical and practical (Totaro et al., 2005). This study compares business school administrators' perceptions of online learning and business faculty perceptions of online learning and administrator's perceptions of online learning. Business school administrators and business faculty are from various disciplines, such as accounting, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing.
A questionnaire was developed to determine the attitudes of business school administrators toward online courses. This questionnaire was very similar to those given to students (Tanner, Noser, and Langford, 2003; Tanner, Noser, Fuselier, and Totaro, 2004-1; Tanner, Noser, Fuselier, and Totaro, 2004-2) and faculty (Totaro, Tanner, Noser, Fitzgerald, and Birch, 2005).
The questionnaire was then given to a simple random sample of one thousand (1,000) business school administrators throughout the United States. In addition to demographic questions on gender, academic rank, current administrative position held, academic experience (both in teaching and as administrators), tenure status, and whether or not the administrator had ever taught an online course, as well as the academic area in which the class was taught, and the maximum enrollment in online classes at their institutions.
There were also eighteen (18) Likert-type questions concerning online courses and related statements with which the administrators could express various levels of agreement or disagreement (lStrongly Agree; 2Agree; 3Neither Agree nor Disagree; 4Disagree; 5Strongly Disagree).
In order to also assess the perceptions of business faculty toward online courses, the above-mentioned instrument, tailored for faculty, was given to a random sample of 1,175 faculty members throughout the United States (approximately an equal number in each of the following areas: accounting, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing).
In order to assess differences in perceptions of online courses by the administrators and faculty respondents, significance tests were performed, and the results are shown in Table 1.
Faculty more strongly disagreed that the lack of a required classroom in an online course appealed to them, and with the statement that as many online classes as possible should be offered in the future. Faculty respondents also showed a greater level of agreement when asked if they would miss the face-to-face interaction with students in online classes.
Faculty also agreed more strongly that online tests are more difficult to administer, and that online courses require students to teach themselves more than in a traditional class. Both groups exhibited about the same level of agreement that the flexible class times in an online class is an advantage for the student and for the faculty. They also agreed that quantitative courses in online settings are among the most difficult for college students, but both were almost neutral as to whether or not more non-quantitative business courses should be offered online. Both groups had about the same level of agreement that online course formats allow students to study at their own pace, and that online courses appeal to many students because such courses have no required, official classroom setting. Both groups also agreed that the textbook is more important in an online class than in a traditional class, and that online courses require more self-discipline by students than traditional courses. With respect to disagreement, both groups disagreed that online tests are more difficult for students. Lastly, both groups exhibited the same level of slight disagreement with the statement that the technology required for an online class adds to the educational value of the online experience, administrators being essentially neutral on this issue.
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice (weight: 8)
Pre-service education students from New Jersey and Namibia were enrolled in an online course in the fall of 2004.
The study indicated that an online course is a very feasible option for providing an intercultural experience for students from developed and developing nations. In order to help students reach deeper levels of understanding of both their intercultural peers and of their own practice, students may need to be exposed to a more explicit model of inter- and intra- cultural reflection. This paper gives teacher educators and others a way of providing a virtual intercultural exchange to their students. This is particularly important for students from both developing and developed nations who do not have the financial means to participate in an actual (in-person) exchange program.
A majority of the students do not have the financial means to participate in an actual (in-person) foreign exchange or study abroad program and most are also either working (often fulltime jobs) and/or raising families while taking courses. It should be noted that while this particular paper reports on the impact of the intercultural experience on New Jersey students, the Namibian students also had a similar intercultural experience. The Namibian students were not simply used as international models but were equally involved in their own reciprocal intercultural exposure.
Our first question was whether we could effectively utilize technology for an online course involving two nations, one developed, and one developing. The second question was, if the technology would support an intercultural exchange, and if so, to what extent would students achieve ubuntu.
In the spring of 2004, the authors decided that the work being done by the MOE and iNET could also support the inclusion of students from the Namibian colleges in an online course taught by the second author at WPUNJ to undergraduate pre-service teachers in the primary (elementary) education program.
The course, "Technology Across the Curriculum" (TAC), was not about international education per se, but rather a course which familiarizes students with appropriate uses of technology in primary and secondary schools. The design, development, and delivery were all done directly on the Blackboard course management system over the summer of 2004, with the course materials and assessments being vetted by the NIED team to assure the needs of students from both countries be met.
All collaboration between WPUNJ and NIED was done via e-mail. The online course, Technology Across the Curriculum, was offered via WPUNJ's Blackboard system to students at WPUNJ in both the Fall 2004 and Spring 2005 semesters.
The Fall 2004 course also included students from Namibia. Shortly before September 2004 (beginning of the fall semester for WPUNJ students, and the beginning of the third term for Namibia students), the NIED team identified one student from the BETD pre-service program from each College of Education along with one teacher-mentor from those colleges. These eight participants spent a week at the NIED facility in Okahandja, Namibia becoming familiar with the Blackboard system and the course expectations. WPUNJ students were not aware of the Namibian students in the Fall 2004 course when they first registered for it.
New Answers for E-Learning; Wikis and avatars are improving the educational experience (weight: 7)
With dorm bills and gasoline prices skyrocketing, it's no wonder 3.5 million students are now opting to stay home and take online college courses. Unfortunately, as many of those students have discovered, E-learning courses have disadvantages, too.
Online courses often can be more boring and less educational than traditional classes. They also tend to have higher dropout rates and--on average--yield lower grades than regular students get. That may finally be changing for the better, however, as E-learning is getting an upgrade. Some professors and schools are redesigning their courses to take advantage of the Web's interactive and visual possibilities, adopting some bleeding-edge technologies such as gamelike simulations and digital avatars to make online courses more exciting and more effective than traditional classrooms. Many students even say that a good E-learning course inspires them to work harder. Matt Kerr signed up for an online art history course last year just to satisfy a general education requirement at Sierra College, a community college outside Sacramento, Calif. He was so inspired by teacher Michelle Pacansky-Brock's audio lectures, "VoiceThread" demonstrations, and assignments that opened his eyes to the art around him that he ended up creating an extensive art blog and did "a lot more work than if I was just sitting in a classroom, listening to her," he says.
Some online courses are "synchronous," which means all students must be online at the same time for live discussions or exams. Others allow students to work independently throughout the week but have deadlines for assignments and tests. Still others allow students to work at their own pace and finish the course as quickly, or as slowly, as they like. Researchers say one of the biggest reasons students fail at online courses is that they aren't honest with themselves about how much time they can actually devote each week to an online course and whether they have the discipline to work without traditional course structures.
A growing number of online courses are requiring students to participate in blogs, wikis, or gamelike simulations. Those activities require students to have good computer skills and access to well-equipped computers with high-speed Internet connections.
More--and better--ways of delivering lectures and information. "My pet peeve is professors who just paste PowerPoint slides, a textbook assignment, and a quiz into a course shell in Blackboard" and think they've created a good online course, says Darcy Hardy, who heads the University of Texas's TeleCampus.
Isolation is one of the most common reasons given by online students who drop out or fail, so "community-building is part of the art of teaching," says Julie Little, interim director of Educause, a nonprofit devoted to technology in education. Some schools, for example, are trying to match students with peers who take at least some of the same online classes each semester, so they get to know each other and can cheer each other on. Other colleges turn each course into an instant community by requiring students to post information about themselves on a class blog, Web page, or Facebook. Most typically require students to share their reactions to readings, assignments, and other students' work at least once a week.
Quick and thorough responses by professors. "The evidence shows the more access, more interaction, and more opportunities for feedback learners have from instructors, the better they do," says Christine Geith, the executive director of Michigan State's Global Online Connection. Geith, who earned her doctorate online, says she learned to seek out classes with professors who were available during more than just standard office hours. That means the best online teachers are easily accessible, if not by phone, then by E-mail, instant message, or some other method. Overseas students taking online courses stateside might prefer professors who use Skype or some other free long- distance service, for example, she notes. While some of his online courses took as little as one hour a week and were easy A's, Sierra College student Kerr says he'll seek out more online courses like his art history class. He says he finds the best classes by checking with classmates and researching professors on sites like ratemyprofessors.com. The six or so hours a week he figures he spent on the art history class was less than he typically gives to a traditional class, but much of that time is spent commuting or sitting bored in a classroom, he says. During his online class hours, he was immersed in research, thinking, writing--and learning.
Interest mining in virtual learning environments (weight: 7)
Research on interest mining in e-learning focused on content mining or search engine and usage mining in web courses.
The paper provides valuable clues regarding user interest mining in a VLE, in which the context is different from usual web courses.
During recent decades the most important innovations in educational systems have been related to the introduction of new technologies as part of web-based education. This mode of education has grown considerably in importance, and thousands of web courses have been deployed in the past few years.
Many of the current web-based courses are built around static learning materials, which do not take into account the diverse learning needs of students.
Romero and Ventura (2007) distinguish between three different types of web-based education systems: web-based courses, well-known learning content management systems, and adaptive and intelligent web-based educational systems.
Web-based courses refer to the courseware that uses static or dynamic web page technology. No matter what content they present, they have the same data source ( Srivastava et al., 2000).
The pages of web-based courses usually consist of texts, graphics, videos, sounds, etc. The inter-page structure information is hyper-links connecting one page to another.
Explaining changes in learning and work practice following the adoption of online learning : a human agency perspective (weight: 6)
LearnNet provided employees with asynchronous access to training courses, allowing learning at any time and anywhere a connection to the Internet could be established.
When LearnNet was implemented in K Hospital, the project manager chose the Nursing Department for a pilot test, after which the system was offered to all employees. K Hospital rewarded those employees who completed the most courses online.
The learning materials on LearnNet included general courses, specialized courses, and short essays and stories. The general courses covered general information about K Hospital, its organizational policies, and announcements for all employees.
The specialized courses were designed for employees in different specialized fields and contained content relevant to clinical practice, medical treatment, patient care, and hospital administration. The essays and stories were chosen for their interest value and were included to relieve the pressure on employees engaged in online training.
Information can be retrieved timely and directly without mediation by any gatekeeper. The staff also appreciated the content of learning materials, which helped them to develop work skills. One clerk recalled an online course that impressed her: It talks about how to communicate with patients.
Participating in training was important for the administrative staff in K Hospital because it was required for promotion. Employees were evaluated not only for their work performance, but also for the number of training courses taken.
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 5)
More than ever before, the chief logistics/supply chain officer of the company is among the senior executive team that is positioning the firm for the future." David Aquino, research director at AMR Research, sees supply chain talent-and its nurturing and availability-as critical to business success these days. At the same time, he says, "Talent pipeline itself is not sufficient to be able to support the growth and extension of supply chain management as a modern discipline." To help fill the talent gap universities, colleges, professional associations, and individual companies are expanding their offerings of degree programs, certifications, online courses, and seminars targeting supply chain professionals.
Along with focusing on traditional supply chain and logistics topics, the programs now also address collaboration skills, the ability to work across cultures and global boundaries, financial acumen, long- and short-term strategic thinking, planning (including new product design and launch), and technology expertise to name a few. In this special supplement, Supply Chain Management Review examines the various pathways available to acquire the skills necessary for future success in the supply chain world. Whether they are offering full degree programs, awarding certifications, or providing non-degree courses, institutions like Arizona State University, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Indiana University, Penn State University, and Tennessee and a growing number of others have stepped up to the plate to help prepare supply chain professionals to succeed now-and in the future.
Because not every supply chain professional can afford the time or financial commitment needed for a degree program or a traditional online executive education course, online education has grown in popularity over the last few years. "Using technology to deliver these types of educational products is the wave of the future, and very attractive in the tight budget times we're seeing today," says Langley. "And while you miss the diversity of discussions between students, the key is to take extra steps-such as scheduling a lunch or dinner for the class to get together-to create those interactions."
In some cases, that could mean taking courses that are tailored to a specific industry and/or company.
The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' online university offers members and potential members access to the latest in logistics and supply chain management. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) provides certification programs, seminars, professional development services and online courses for the supply management professional. (The listings section following this article gives more information on the associations offerings.) How are supply chain people reacting to expanded educational opportunities? Burt Blanchard, CSCMP's manager of education and research, says demand for those offerings is high right now thanks to the constantly-changing nature of the supply chain profession. He sees customer service, collaboration, financial skills, and performance management as the skill sets that practitioners and students need to work on developing right now. "These are the areas that companies are really looking at, and that they expect their supply chain professionals to be able to handle," says Blanchard.
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 5)
More than ever before, the chief logistics/supply chain officer of the company is among the senior executive team that is positioning the firm for the future." David Aquino, research director at AMR Research, sees supply chain talent-and its nurturing and availability-as critical to business success these days. At the same time, he says, "The talent pipeline itself is not sufficient to be able to support the growth and extension of supply chain management as a modern discipline." To help fill the talent gap universities, colleges, professional associations, and individual companies are expanding their offerings of degree programs, certifications, online courses, and seminars targeting supply chain professionals.
Along with focusing on traditional supply chain and logistics topics, the programs now also address collaboration skills, the ability to work across cultures and global boundaries, financial acumen, long- and short-term strategic thinking, planning (including new product design and launch), and technology expertise to name a few. In this special supplement, Logistics Management examines the various pathways available to acquire the skills necessary for future success in the supply chain world. Whether they are offering full degree programs, awarding certifications, or providing non-degree courses, institutions like Arizona State University, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Indiana University, Penn State University, and Tennessee and a growing number of others have stepped up to the plate to help prepare supply chain professionals to succeed now-and in the future.
The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' (CSCMP) online university offers members and potential members access to the latest in logistics and supply chain management. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) provides certification programs, seminars, professional development services and online courses for the supply management professional. (The listings section following this article gives more information on the associations offerings.) How are supply chain people reacting to expanded educational opportunities? Burt Blanchard, CSCMP's manager of education and research, says demand for those offerings is high right now thanks to the constantly-changing nature of the supply chain profession. He sees customer service, collaboration, financial skills, and performance management as the skill sets that practitioners and students need to work on developing right now. "These are the areas that companies are really looking at, and that they expect their supply chain professionals to be able to handle," says Blanchard.
An executive education course in Supply Chain Design and Execution for Global Markets.
ISM offers certification programs, seminars, professional development services and online courses for supply management professionals.
Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education (weight: 4)
Employees tasked with using new technologies seldom wholeheartedly welcome the organizational changes associated with them. Online education embodies a shift away from traditional, classroom-based teaching activities typically associated with university education toward a technological realm where teaching requires the use of computers equipped with specialized course software systems, both synchronous and asynchronous computer applications, and the frequent frustrations associated with dependence on the Internet.
Approximately 28% of participants reported teaching undergraduate courses online, and 49% reported teaching graduate courses online.
I find it easy to get our course management software to do what I need it to do in my classes.
Assuming that I have the opportunity, I will teach online courses as much as possible.
A call to arms (weight: 4)
Engineering procurement contractors are being called out of retirement to manage projects. With few college or university courses devoted to breakbulk-project logistics, companies are forced to provide their own training - an expensive and time-consuming proposition.
The agency, which provides funds to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and state maritime academies, has the resources and expertise to help develop courses or modules in breakbulk and project shipping that could be integrated into existing logistics and continuing education programs. ECMC members are also partnering with groups such as The Journal of Commerce.
The interactive Breakbulk Institute, as it is currently called, will include an online course designed to provide sales personnel, rate clerks and other employees on the administrative side of the business with a basic understanding of how the industry works.
The advisory committee headed by Nagel met in January to begin the lengthy and intensive process of mapping out the curriculum and developing the course content, which is key to the program's success. "When you're asking people to pay for courses, they have to be good or they won't fly," Tirschwell said. Online learning in the maritime industry is in its infancy, but it's definitely catching on, said Swapan Das Sarma, director of maritime education and e-learning for Tel-edata. With regard to learning, the industry faces a conundrum: It is steeped in a tradition of hands-on learning at sea, but continuing-education requirements force people to leave work to attend school, which drives many from the industry. "I feel this can be overcome by e-learning."
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 3)
The course work was mostly done online, with one month per year of in-class learning.
Distance education courses, certificates and diplomas are perfect for people with arts or science degrees who find themselves working in the business world. They may want to know more about business administration or technology but don't necessarily want or need a full degree in business. A certificate program, with job-related skills, can really enhance their value to their employer or enable them to move around within the job market."
A different take on online learning will soon be available at Toronto's Seneca College. Seneca's Managed E-Lab offers a campus-based place for students engaged in government-sponsored re-training programs, such as Second Career, to work on online courses even though they may not have a computer, Internet access or a quiet place to study. "The lab will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and while students will have to physically attend, it gives them a lot of flexibility in terms of when they do so," says Susan Savoie, dean, Faculty of Continuing Education and Training. "We can support up to 10 students at any given time and staff will be available to help them get familiar with the technology. It's a great way to begin a second career and we have a lot of diploma and certificate programs available for them to choose from." "Some students even begin their degree online, and since the first two years of a program are generally transferable anywhere, may choose to complete the degree on campus at the university of their choosing."
E-learning: your flexible development friend? (weight: 3)
The better examples of online courses are now often highly personalized, with each learner's progress and "attendance" tracked, and personalized comments offered throughout. Discussion forums and instant messaging technologies can also offer support and collaboration for those undertaking the program. Despite these reservations by some, online training and education has grown rapidly in recent years, fuelled by a greater demand for personal development and learning and lifestyle changes within society which mean that other, more traditional techniques - such as away-day courses, fixed schedule TV programs and night-classes - are too impractical and inflexible. Online learning is increasingly replacing such traditional methods.
More universities, businesses and individuals are now using e-learning to develop knowledge and skills and to ensure mandatory training (health and safety, discrimination legislation in the workplace) is undertaken. Online courses can both supplement and replace many traditional learning techniques and the diversity of subject matter is ever-growing.
E-learning also provides a relatively anonymous learning environment, so there is less pressure to perform well in front of colleagues as might sometimes be the case in classroom-style training. This safe environment allows individuals to tackle very personal issues. Recently, Amazing Education launched a pioneering new online course for working mums, aimed at helping them juggle family and career - an example of when people might want to explore their situation in an anonymous environment.
A New direction For Executive Education? (weight: 3)
The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) offers a rich array of workshops, roundtables, conferences, and online courses. While figures are hard to come by, there are clearly still plenty of managers attending those events, travel budget clamp-downs or no.
"People are looking at it as a supplement to face-to-face and also as a self-paced skills refresher." Tracey notes that more companies are interested in purchasing blocks of online courses with the idea of making those courses prerequisites for employees' performance reviews.
Executive education is clearly succeeding overall. Continuing demand for everything from certification programs and online courses to highly customized programs for senior supply chain leaders speaks to its effectiveness on many levels.
How valuable are online MBAs ?; [1] (weight: 2)
Learning is made up of three elements - knowledge, emotional and effort dimensions. For many people they feel better equipped to handle the latter two dimensions of learning in a primarily face to face environment. This may not be physically or financially achievable, but anyone with that configuration of learning style should at least look at a part time degree course.
The challenge to the traditional teaching paradigm comes from the changing ideas around how adults learn - the move towards more learner-centric approaches to teaching. These are particularly well facilitated through the use of online technology and, with the emergence of web 2.0 we see even more synergies. In fact online technology is increasingly used for campus based course as well as those delivered at a distance and so the distinctions are blurring. Indeed there are those who would argue that the traditional model of distance learning no longer exists. Clive Holtham: Matty has given a very fair answer to this good question. As she says, face-to-face business schools are increasingly using technology, but not so much to provide content as implied in the question.
Brick walls to distance-teaching in the east may soon crumble ASIAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS: Unexpected costs and complexities have stalled web progress, reports William Barnes; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 2)
The painful realisation that simply pumping lecture notesacross the ether does not constitute a credible MBA course has caused many business schools to become cautious about promoting internet learning.
If Asian degree providers come up with the right mix of quality, credibility and price, the growth in online courses could be explosive.
Some IT TRAINING Remains Traditional (weight: 2)
The company also offers a free training course on the application called "Hacking 101" that lasts three hours. Training observers cite the new technologies unavailable just five years ago, such as online video or podcasts, and the influence they have upon the new generation entering the workforce. That is not to say that IT specialists prefer textbooks and desks to hacking away at the desktop. Training designers emphasize the impatience of many IT learners who would prefer to dispense with weighty instructional manuals and practice a particular application on their own.
The help items are much more subtle than some of the more notorious elements of Microsoft products. Nguyen, now manager of emerging technologies for American Express, says, "it's not like Clippee," referring to the much maligned character in Microsoft applications that tries to help users. "It's less intrusive. Users don't realize they're in a training course. They just follow it and then shut down the application."
Breakbulk 101 (weight: 2)
The program's first component is a 60-hour online course in industry fundamentals - call it Breakbulk 101.
In the traditional classroom, Das Sarma points out, a teacher can get away with using a 20-year-old course outline. With interactive training that uses the Web, such a lazy approach won't fly.
IBM goes the distance for its key Indian staff; An online programme is allowing the computer giant to enhance its talent pool, writes Rebecca Knight (weight: 2)
"But I do believe that having an MBA rounds you out, makes you more competitive and it helps you understand the dynamics of the global marketplace." This is precisely why Mr Lynt has helped to set up an MBA programme for the technology company's most talented managers in India. The company recently partnered with Boston-based Northeastern University College of Business Administration to create an online degree course, which makes it possible for IBM employees based in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi to earn an MBA without disrupting their careers. "We wanted to find a way to enhance the talent pool in India by enabling our key people to further their educations," he says.
Mr Ghosh studies at weekends and uses free time at work to catch up on reading. The course requires self-discipline, he says.
Ask the experts: Online MBA 2009 (weight: 1)
Dr Angel Cabrera, President of Thunderbird School of Global Management. Online programmes are cheaper and more convenient than a traditional MBA course, and one can study while working, but my perception is that they are less appreciated by employers. Leonard Schlesinger: While we have not collected any systematic data from our employers we have reams of anecdotal data from the managers of our blended learning programme students testifying to the utility of their learning experience. These comments generally relate to the ability to directly put tools to work, to demonstrate substantially greater versatility and a broader organisational orientation, and to contribute in new and different areas of the business.
Online MBA course helps KPMG retain graduates (weight: 1)
The programme, explains Mr Walby, is dependent on self-motivation and students must be able to manage the process of training themselves. He says the MBA course requires discipline to study, often alone, whilst maintaining a career. "It is a significant commitment in terms of time," admits Mr Walby.
IBM opts for online MBA (weight: 1)
Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused. The company recently partnered with Boston-based Northeastern University College of Business Administration to create an online degree course, which makes it possible for IBM employees based in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi to earn an MBA without disrupting their careers. "We wanted to find a way to enhance the talent pool in India by enabling our key people to further their educations," he says.
Distance Learning for Continuing Education (weight: 1)
"The online experience helped me in my career goals by expanding my knowledge in the field of HVACR to help me expand the objectives of the program at the local technical college where I teach," said David Kibler, program coordinator/HVAC department, Piedmont Technical College Greenwood, S.C. "Being able to take the courses online provided the freedom to attend class and complete work on my own schedule.
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta; New Picture of Personal Finances Shows, in Case of Emergency, Two in Three ''Household CFOs'' Are at Risk (weight: 1)
One in six reported a job loss, and one in ten went through a divorce. "With free resources available to Household CFOs, it's easier than ever to become more knowledgeable about managing finances in their own time and at their own pace," said Glass. "Through courses like 'How do I save my home?,' 'Why am I a 678 credit score?,' and 'Living on 70 cents a day,' Household CFOs can easily build their confidence while building financial stability for the future."
USGBC launches education program (weight: 1)
Each learning module will be reviewed by three independent experts to make sure it meets specific standards related to course objectives, content, and presentation. Instructors and course developers will also be evaluated to ensure that they know what they're talking about.
Get to the Next Level Online (weight: 1)
A former Marine, Lawson is now a recruiter for the Transportation security Administration. He is based at Dulles Airport, outside Washington, D.C, and is pursuing his bachelor's degree in emergency and disaster management, with a concentration in homeland security. He says many of his professors continue their work in the homeland security arena and bring that knowledge to the classroom. That has been especially helpful when the class reviews and analyzes FEMA's National Incident Management System. "They're not caught behind the walls of academia." Lawson also says his fellow students add to that knowledge. His courses include a mix of those in law enforcement, military, customs and more. "They offer perspectives that I can apply to my job," Lawson said.
Fraud Factories (weight: 1)
While the proliferation of online courses, degrees and certificates might be daunting, especially to employers looking to verify that employees and applicants have legitimate degrees and certificates, resources to check authenticity are readily available. Groups such as the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) in Washington, D.C., maintain lists of accredited colleges and universities. Employers may not be aware of these online lists, according to Contreras.
5 things to watch in e-learning (weight: 1)
The "click and advance" e-learning courses of early 2000 are now far more engaging and interactive.
It's [Not] the Technology, Stupid (weight: 1)
When the technology is treated as the destination, programs often fall flat because the choice of delivery tool becomes more important than the content. Tool selection is then allowed to dictate what is included in the course design; for example, if the tool allows for cool animations, then animations are included, whether or not they have instructional value. These problems are amplified when programs are blended together.
ONLINE STUDENTS (36 documents)
The Multifaceted Nature of Online MBA Student Satisfaction and Impacts on Behavioral Intentions (weight: 67)
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 42)
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 42)
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 34)
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 31)
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 30)
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 24)
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice (weight: 22)
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 12)
New Answers for E-Learning; Wikis and avatars are improving the educational experience (weight: 11)
On the Effects of the Application of the Business Strategy to Public Colleges of Higher Education (weight: 7)
E-learning: The Relationship Among Learner Satisfaction, Self-efficacy, and Usefulness (weight: 7)
Best foot forward (weight: 7)
Interest mining in virtual learning environments (weight: 6)
Get Value from Online Training (weight: 5)
How valuable are online MBAs ?; [1] (weight: 4)
Ask the experts: Online MBA 2009 (weight: 4)
Brick walls to distance-teaching in the east may soon crumble ASIAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS: Unexpected costs and complexities have stalled web progress, reports William Barnes; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 3)
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 3)
IBM opts for online MBA (weight: 2)
Distance Learning for Continuing Education (weight: 2)
Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education (weight: 2)
Some IT TRAINING Remains Traditional (weight: 2)
is virtual a virtue in scholarship? (weight: 2)
Fraud Factories (weight: 2)
Space for thought encourages a richer vocalisation of ideas ONLINE CASE STUDY TEACHING: Sarah Murray on how a classroom-based tutorial method is benefiting from the web; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 1)
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 1)
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 1)
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 1)
Anaheim University; Anaheim University Answering Worldwide Call for English Teachers (weight: 1)
Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience (weight: 1)
Online Education for Lifelong Learning: An interview with author Yukiko Inoue (weight: 1)
A call to arms (weight: 1)
Get to the Next Level Online (weight: 1)
What Can Training Do for Brown? (weight: 1)
IBM goes the distance for its key Indian staff; An online programme is allowing the computer giant to enhance its talent pool, writes Rebecca Knight (weight: 1)
The Multifaceted Nature of Online MBA Student Satisfaction and Impacts on Behavioral Intentions (weight: 67)
Abstract (Summary) The authors analyzed surveys gathered from 277 students enrolled in online MBA courses at a large univer sity in the Midwest.
As the authors expected, student satisfaction in the survey comprised 5 factors: satisfaction with faculty practices, learning practices, course materials, student-to-student interaction, and course tools.
Student satisfaction predicted student intention to recommend the course, faculty, and university to others.
Varying types of online satisfaction that were revealed in the factor analysis predicted each type of student intention.
ABSTRACT. The authors analyzed surveys gathered from 277 students enrolled in online MBA courses at a large university in the Midwest.
Online MBA programs are attracting a new market comprising nontraditional students who work full-time and are often sponsored by organizations (Mangan, 2001; Smith).
Difficulties that have arisen with the sudden proliferation of online MBA courses are improper course management and a lack of attention to the special needs of online students (Bocchi, Eastman, & Swift, 2004; Mangan).
More specifically, research on students' satisfaction with regard to MBA course delivery is limited, despite a recent increase in publications on the topic (Arbaugh, 2002).
Student satisfaction is most often studied as a unidimensional construct, but research suggests that multiple dimensions may exist in online classes (Arbaugh, 2000b).
According to Benbunan-Fich, Hiltz, and Harasim (2005), online student satisfaction is affected by "all aspects of the educational experience. satisfaction with course rigor and fairness, with professor and peer interaction, and with support systems" (p. 31). Therefore, a challenge researchers face is how to incorporate multiple facets of online business courses into research models (Arbaugh & Benbunan-Fich, 2005). Another challenge researchers face is how to investigate multiple courses as opposed to only one course, specifically in the business disciplines (Arbaugh, 2000b).
In response to the current state of research, our first goal in the present study was to investigate the multifaceted nature of student satisfaction in online graduate business courses. Our second goal was to determine how these different facets of satisfaction are differentially important to the students' intention to recommend the course, faculty, or university to others.
Researchers have suggested that student satisfaction is comprised of multiple dimensions and is not influenced by instructors alone (Arbaugh, 2000a).
Miles (2001) stated that student satisfaction is affected by instructor elements (flexibility and interaction), course elements (asynchronous learning and meaningful learning objectives), and access (ability for low-bandwidth access).
Empirical research also suggests that online student satisfaction with business courses is multifaceted (Arbaugh, 2000a, 2001, 2002, 2005; Arbaugh & Duray, 2002; Bocchi et al., 2004; Marks, Sibley, & Arbaugh, 2005; Webster & Hackley, 1997).
Webster and Hackley studied online courses from several disciplines (including business) and six universities. They found multiple aspects of the online experience to be positively related to overall student satisfaction, including high quality technology, high media richness, positive instructor attitude, high instructor control over technology, interactive teaching style, positive classmate attitude, comfort with images, high involvement and participation, cognitive engagement, and positive attitude toward technology. These findings illustrate the important impact of noninstructor elements on student satisfaction.
Arbaugh (2000a) also concluded that student satisfaction regarding online business courses may be because of the instructor, student, course, or medium.
Student satisfaction was affected by a range of factors including flexibility of the medium and ability of the instructor to use it interactively.
Because most studies of online courses use a single course and one medium for delivery, Arbaugh suggested that questions are still unanswered regarding the sources of student satisfaction.
As in past research, student interaction with the instructor and with other students is promoted as having the largest impact on student satisfaction.
In comparing different types of student interaction, Marks et al. found that student-instructor interaction had the largest impact on outcomes.
Bocchi et al. (2004) discovered that online faculty's use of frequent feedback and interaction with students promoted MBA students' satisfaction. Behavioral characteristics of the courses that allow students to interact and participate appear to be more important to MBA students than technological characteristics, such as ease of use of the software (Arbaugh, 2001, 2002; Arbaugh & Duray, 2002).
Arbaugh and Duray reported that MBA students' satisfaction was positively affected by higher perceived flexibility and smaller class sizes that allowed interaction.
Although interaction appears to have a primary influence on satisfaction, technological characteristics of the course also affects satisfaction. Other course characteristics may be significant predictors of online student satisfaction, such as the length of the course (Arbaugh, 2001).
Recent research findings suggest that online student satisfaction is multifaceted and dependent on instructor, course, and technology elements.
The student input is represented by the gray arrows in the model because students' attitudes toward the practices were assessed on the basis of online course dimensions suggested in the literature.
Arbaugh (2000b) suggested that future research assess additional dependent variables to student satisfaction.
Hypothesis 1 (H1): Student satisfaction with online courses comprises multiple factors, including satisfaction with faculty practices, course materials, learning practices, student-to-student interaction, and online tools. Researchers have suggested that student satisfaction with faculty members should be based on the faculty members' use of online tools, their attitudes, and their interactions with students (e.g., Arbaugh, 2000a) and that this satisfaction predicts the students' behavioral intention to recommend the faculty.
H2: Student behavioral intention to recommend the faculty is predicted by faculty practices and course materials, but not by satisfaction with learning practices, student-to-student interaction, or online tools.
Miles (2001) suggested that course objectives and information should affect student satisfaction with the online course.
Because a single course is often investigated in online student-satisfaction research, specific impacts on course satisfaction are not known (Arbaugh, 2000b). H3: Student behavioral intention to recommend the course to others is predicted by their satisfaction with course materials, learning practices, and student-to-student interaction, but not by their satisfaction with faculty practices or online tools. Last, we proposed that students' satisfaction with online tools predicts their intention to recommend the university. Although student satisfaction with the university was not addressed in previous literature, researchers have suggested that technology type (Arbaugh, 2001, 2002; Arbaugh & Duray, 2002) and media richness (Webster & Hackley, 1997) are important aspects of university online programs, and these aspects are not related to certain courses or faculty.
Students' satisfaction with the university may increase when technology allows students to efficiently interact with other students and faculty (Arvan, Ory, Bullock, Burnaska, & Hanson, 1998).
H4: Student behavioral intention to recommend the university to others is predicted by satisfaction with online tools, but not by learning or faculty practices, course materials, or student- to-student interaction.
The sample was taken from 31 MBA courses at the university from March 2002 to August 2004. The administrators then asked students to fill out the student satisfaction survey after completing their course and directed them to click on a hyperlink to the online survey.
The online survey instrument analysis includes 20 questions regarding student satisfaction.
A team of administrators and faculty PhDs used current literature to form the items. The sections of the survey reflect the specific university's MBA program needs and areas that the Sloan Consortium (2005) listed as affecting student satisfaction: These areas are technology, learning issues, course-specific issues, and interaction with faculty and students.
The survey was divided into five areas: faculty practices (six questions), learning practices (five questions), course materials (four questions), student- to-student interaction (three questions), and online tools (two questions). Students were asked to indicate their satisfaction with the statements on a 5- point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (very dissatisfied) to 5 (very satisfied), with the option of indicating not applicable (NA).
H2 stated that five factors of student satisfaction would emerge: faculty practices, learning practices, course materials, student-to-student interaction, and online tools. These five factors were confirmed.
When asked, "Will you recommend the faculty member to others?" 185 students responded yes (67.0%) and 91 responded no (33.0%).
As we expected, satisfaction with faculty practices predicted student intention to recommend faculty.
Unexpectedly, learning practices also predicted student intention to recommend faculty (marginal significance at p <.10).
Course materials did not predict intention as we had hypothesized. Table 2 shows that Wilks's lambda and F values indicated that students' satisfaction with faculty and learning practices significantly influenced their intention to recommend the faculty member. Satisfaction with course materials, student-to-student interaction, and online tools were not valuable predictors according to these statistics.
The canonical discriminant function (as independent predictors) and factor matrix coefficients (as joint predictors) showed that students' satisfaction with faculty and learning practices were the only predictors of intention to recommend the faculty.
As we expected, satisfaction with course materials and learning practices predicted students' intention to recommend the course.
Contrary to H3, satisfaction with student-to-student interaction was not a significant predictor of intention to recommend the course.
Wilks's lambda and F values indicated that satisfaction with faculty practices, course materials, and learning practices significantly influenced the students' intention to recommend the course (see Table 3). Satisfaction with student-to-student interaction and online tools were not valuable predictors according to these statistics.
When asked, "Will you recommend the university to others?" 254 students (91.7%) responded yes, and 23 (8.3%) responded no. Consistent with H4, students' intention to recommend the university to others was predicted by their satisfaction with online tools.
Contrary to our expectations, students intention to recommend the university was negatively and marginally predicted by satisfaction with course materials (p <.09), meaning that the higher the satisfaction with course materials, the higher the chance that students' may not recommend the university. Contrary to H4 was the finding that students' satisfaction with learning practices predicted their intention to recommend the university.
Students' satisfaction with faculty practices and student-to-student interaction was not a valuable predictor.
Satisfaction with online tools predicted students' intentions to recommend the university. Unexpectedly, students' intentions were also predicted positively by their satisfaction with learning practices and negatively (although marginally) by their satisfaction with course materials.
We met our research goals by establishing that student satisfaction comprised five distinct factors: satisfaction with faculty practices, course materials, learning practices, studentto- student interaction, and online tools.
We met our goals by showing that students' behavioral intention to recommend the course, faculty, and university were predicted by different types of satisfaction.
Faculty practices predicted students' intention to recommend a faculty member to others, as we expected.
Course materials did not predict students' intention to recommend faculty.
Unexpectedly, learning practices predicted student intention to recommend faculty at a marginal significance level. Learning practices questions included topics such as practical application of course materials, learning critical thinking skills, and providing a thought provoking course. These aspects of the course may be attributed to the faculty member's discretion, especially if the faculty member expresses to students that he or she uses certain practices or methods specifically for teaching critical thinking or practical application.
Course materials was not important in predicting students' intention to recommend faculty. These questions, such as satisfaction with the current nature and usefulness of reading materials, may be attributed more to the institution. The faculty member may even apologize to students for the book choice, as he or she may not have chosen the book. These informal apologies may become typical in a situation in which the faculty does not pick a standardized course book or materials.
As we hypothesized, students' intention to recommend the course to others is predicted by faculty practices, course materials, and learning practices. We did not hypothesize that faculty practices would predict students' intention to recommend the course, but its inclusion as a significant predictor illustrated the importance of the faculty member to online students.
The instructor appears to significantly affect students' attitudes toward the course, even though the course material and syllabus may not have been developed by the faculty member who taught the course. Therefore, one possible explanation for the importance of faculty practices on students' recommendation of the course is that online students may assume that the faculty member facilitating the course also developed the course. This information was not measured in the present article, but a future study may ask students about their perception of the course content's developer.
We did not hypothesize the significance of course materials as a factor in predicting students' intentions to recommend the university, although the significance could be explained by the perception that the university has some control over the materials used. This may be counter to the students' supposition that the faculty develop their own courses, as noted previously.
Future researchers may investigate students' perceptions of accountability for course content.
Interestingly, satisfaction with student- to-student interaction did not predict intention to recommend the faculty, course, or university.
Further research is needed to determine what importance student-to-student interaction holds for online classes.
Gender has been an important control variable in online MBA studies (Arbaugh, 2000c, 2000d). Future studies should attempt to find multiple dimensions of student satisfaction while considering important controls such as gender.
A dichotomous dependent variable limits the range of explanation that is available. Behavioral intention is a valid measure, as indicated in past research (Ajzen, 1991), but future research may expand on this study by including ordinal dependent measures and objective measures such as student performance.
The range of responses limited the statistical power in the analysis of H4. Despite the large data set that we analyzed (n 277), few students responded that they would not recommend the university (n 23, 8.3%).
Online MBA student satisfaction appears to be multifaceted. The study results confirm that online MBA students' satisfaction with their faculty, courses, and university is not straightforward.
To affect each intention, universities must focus on a variety of different courses, faculty, learning tools, and online learning tools. The lack of online MBA students' intention to recommend any one of these areas can be more directly targeted with knowledge of the importance of each online satisfaction facet.
With resources more efficiently directed, intervention in raising student satisfaction can be more effective.
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 42)
West Lafayette: Spring 2009. Abstract (Summary) In this paper, the authors compare business faculty and undergraduate students' perceptions of online learning.
Specifically, a survey was given to a convenience sample of 893 undergraduate students (of which 890 were usable) at two regional universities in the southern United States; a modified version of the survey was mailed to a random sample of 1,175 business faculty members throughout the United States.
Comparison of the results from each group showed that a number of differences in perception exist, due, perhaps, to the heterogeneous points of view and motivations for online learning between faculty and students. Since many universities are still deciding the extent of their offerings of such courses, this information may be helpful to university administrators in deciding which types of courses at their universities might be offered online. Faculty who are considering teaching one or more online courses may find the results of this study helpful in structuring these online offerings. The results of this study should assist students in gaining a realistic expectation of what to anticipate from online learning courses based on information we have found and studies we have done. It is important that students have a realistic perception of the online learning experience.
In this paper, the authors compare business faculty and undergraduate students' perceptions of online learning.
The ever-Increasing populuity of online progximi may be due to the rising number of adults who, both for personal or professional reasons, wish to earn a college degree, but are unable to relinquish their full-time jobs and attend oncampus, daytime classes. Fortunately, the technological infrastructure needed to address the growing interest in online education is readily available, thus making the availability of online courses both economical and practical (Totaro et al., 2005). This study compares the perceptions of online learning by business faculty from various disciplines, such as accounting, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing, and the perceptions of online learning by undergraduate students.
The collective demographics of college students have changed considerably from college students of, say, twenty years ago, where the typical college student was between 18 and 22 years old.
Colleges and universities are catering increasingly to the "non-traditional" college student, whose age tends to be 23 years or older, married with children, and employed full-time.
The virtual removal of time and place boundaries by online learning presents a practical means by which the nontraditional student may earn college credit, or even earn a college degree.
In order for online programs to proliferate, faculty and student expectations of the online learning experience should be understood; thus, faculty and student attitudes toward online course offerings should be assessed.
Prior research has focused separately on student attitudes (Tanner, Noser, and Langford, 2003; Tanner et al., 2004-1; Tanner et al., 2004-2; Tanner et al., 2006) and on faculty attitudes (Totaro et al., 2005).
The present study attempts to bridge the two by comparing attitudes about and perceptions of online learning between students and faculty. The results of this study should be of interest to university administrators, faculty members, and students who plan to offer, teach, or take online courses in the future. Since many universities are still deciding the extent of their offerings of such courses, this information may be helpful to university administrators in deciding which types of courses at their universities might be offered online. Faculty who are considering teaching one or more online courses may find the results of this study helpful in structuring these online offerings. The results of this study should assist students in gaining a realistic expectation of what to anticipate from online learning courses based on information we have found and studies we have done. It is important that students have a realistic perception of the online learning experience. The increasing demand by students to acquire an education at times and locations that are convenient, given their busy schedules and personal commitments, makes online learning attractive to working students (Roberts, 1998). Technological advances have made the availability of online learning both economical and practical.
The issue of student self-discipline as a requirement for success in an online course (see issue number 1 in the preceding paragraph) was addressed by Daymont and Blau (2008). Specifically, their empirical study compared undergraduate students' performance in online and traditional sections of a management course. Results of their study suggest that undergraduate students in online and traditional sections of a course perform equally well.
The online learning debate usually focuses on issues related to student learning and outcomes and student attitudes as compared to traditional classroom- based settings (Phillips, 1998; Webster and Hackley, 1997).
Using a meta-analysis approach, a group of researchers found considerable support for the premise that online learning does not diminish the level of student satisfaction when compared to methods of instruction that use the more traditional face-to-face approach (Allen et al., 2002).
The results of yet another study reveal that self-management, self-reliance, and accurate expectations of learner responsibilities are significant attributes for a successful online learning experience (Howland and Moore, 2002). A stark contrast to the three aforementioned studies suggests that a lack of interaction (the capacity to pose questions, share opinions, and engage in dialogue) or presence (a sense of belonging to a group) or both may result in differences in perception by students about how well they may or may not have performed in an online class (Picciano, 2002; Song et al., 2004). The issue of "social presence" and how it might impact students' perceptions of online courses and their instructors was examined by Richardson and Swan (2003). The results of their study suggested a positive correlation between the degree of social presence and perceived learning and perceived quality of the instructor.
Perceptions by students concerning the integration of online learning modules as part of traditional, in- class instruction were evaluated by Smart and Cappel (2006). Unlike many of the studies cited above, their study focused on so-called "blended learning," where delivery was done both in- class and online. The results of their study highlight the importance of course planning, course content, and student characteristics. One study, which compared student persistence and performance in online and classroom business statistics courses, suggests that, while significant differences exist between the two groups in terms of persistence, the learning objectives, as evidenced by the final grade in the courses for those students who persist, is not dependent on the mode of instruction (McLaren, 2004). Perceptions by students about their instructors and online course content were examined by Johnson et al. (2000). Specifically, they compared learner satisfaction between students enrolled in an online graduate course and students enrolled in an equivalent, in-class graduate course.
The comparison metrics included: student ratings of the instructor; quality of the course; evaluation of course structure, support, and interaction; and course grades. The results of their study showed slightly more positive perceptions by graduate students enrolled in the in- class course as compared with their counterparts in the online course. The increasing emphasis on developing a better understanding of the role of the instructor in online learning, as it might be similar to or different from traditional instruction, is one that continues to draw interest by those in the academic community. In one study (Easton, 2003), interactions among lead faculty, online mentors, and their students were explored. The conclusions of the Easton (2003) study are twofold: (1) online courses are highly laborintensive, both for students and instructor; and Cl) clarification of roles is very important.
Myers et al. (2004) examined the motivation by faculty to teach online learning classes. The results of their study suggest that faculty are interested in teaching online learning classes, mostly for purposes of updating their curriculum vitae and for learning new teaching skills. Younger and less experienced faculty members are more likely to embrace online learning than their older and more experienced counterparts. Another study, which compared the attitudes of (nonbusiness) instructors and students at several community colleges, revealed an interesting dichotomy in terms of points- of- view (Inman, Kerwin, and Mayes, 1999). Specifically, in this study, the instructors rated the quality of their online courses as equal to or lower than their traditional counterparts, whereas the students felt deeply satisfied with their online experiences. The same study also examined student and instructor attitudes, an objective of which was to develop a regression equation that might be used to predict three dependent variables: instructor ratings, course ratings, and amount learned by students. In contrast to the study done by Inman Kerwin, and Mayes (1999), our study compares the attitudes of both students and faculty toward online learning, with the objective of indentifying similarities and differences between them.
As indicated in the motivation section, prior research has focused separately on student attitudes (Tanner, Noser, Langford, 2003; Tanner et al., 2004-1; Tanner et al., 2004-2; Tanner et al., 2006) and on faculty attitudes (Totaro et al., 2005). Because the present study compares attitudes about online learning between two groups - students and faculty it may prove useful to elaborate somewhat on the results of this prior research. Results from a study done by Tanner, Noser, and Langford (2003) suggest that factors such as age and gender do not play a significant part in undergraduate business students' perceptions of online learning. Significant differences in perception by these students seem to exist between those who had previous online experience as compared with those students who had no prior online experience.
Two studies of undergraduate students - business and non-business - were undertaken by Tanner et al. (2004-1; 2004-2), which focused on students' perceptions of online learning courses. In contrast to the aforementioned study by Tanner, Noser, and Langford (2003), both gender and age appear to impact these students' perceptions of online learning. Numerous differences in perceptions were found between business majors and their non- business counterparts.
Specifically, students who were twenty- one years or older, or who had taken at least one online course, seem to have a more favorable perception of online learning. Business students appear to favor online courses more so than do their non- business counterparts. The latter point might also suggest that business faculty have more exposure to online learning course delivery than nonbusiness faculty.
Business faculty perceptions of online education were the focus of a study done by Totaro et al. (2005). The results of this study suggest that business faculty view undergraduate business students as finding online learning very desirable. An interesting contrast, however, is that these faculty perceive online learning as having numerous shortcomings; these include: the lack of instructorstudent/student-student interaction; no structured classroom environment; students tend to teach themselves the course material; the difficulty of teaching quantitative courses online; and the challenges associated with administering exams online.
A study that compares perceptions of 2001-2002 undergraduate students toward online courses with the attitudes and perceptions of students matriculating in 2005 was done by Tanner et al. (2006), the results of which suggest that students continue to express concerns about the overall appeal of online courses. We compare and contrast our current study (as elaborated upon in this paper) with a similar study done by Wilkes, Simon, and Brooks (2006). Both studies focus on perceptions of online learning by undergraduate business students and faculty.
The instrument developed by Wilkes, Simon, and Brooks (2006) was administered to 179 undergraduate business students at a large urban university.
Our instrument was administered to 893 (890 usable) undergraduate students - business and nonbusiness - at two regional state universities located in the southern United States.
The faculty version of our instrument was mailed to a random sample of 1,175 business faculty members throughout the United States (approximately an equal number in each of the following areas: accounting, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing). Despite the aforementioned differences in research design, results of our study are similar to those indicated by Wilkes, Simon, and Brooks (2006); most notably, in both our study and theirs, faculty perceptions toward online learning are significantly less favorable than students' perceptions toward online learning. We shall, of course, expand discussion of our research findings later in this paper. It is important to note that our study does not distinguish between "pure" online courses and "blended" (or "hybrid") online learning.
A questionnaire was developed to determine the attitudes of students toward online courses. The instrument was pilottested on a sample of twenty business students at a mediumsized southern university; following this, further refinements were made.
The questionnaire was then given to a convenience sample of eight hundred ninety-three (893) undergraduate students (of which 890 were usable) at two regional state universities located in the southern United States, composed of one hundred ninety (190) who had taken courses online, and seven hundred (700) who had not taken any courses online, and three (3) non-respondents.
In an effort to ensure anonymity, no attempt was made to identify the name or discipline of the faculty respondents. Table 1 gives a demographic profile of all student respondents, as well as those who had and had not taken courses online.
As the table shows, several significant differences were found. While both groups agreed that an advantage of taking an online class is the flexibility of class times, faculty respondents exhibited a significantly higher level of agreement than did the student respondents (Statement #1). Student respondents agreed more than did faculty respondents with the statement that no structured class meeting times were appealing to them; the latter group, in fact, disagreed with this statement (see Statement #7).
Note that our respondents differ significantly in age: 67% of the student respondents were below 22 years of age, while the average years of teaching experience for the faculty respondents was 18.6 years.
Perhaps younger participants are not bothered or worried about a lack of structure, while older ones have grown accustomed to and appreciate structure. Faculty respondents showed a significantly higher level of agreement than did student respondents with the statement that meeting with other students and/or the professor outside the classroom was important to them (Statement #6). Faculty respondents showed a significantly higher level of agreement with the statement that they would miss the student-to-student or student-to-professor interactions when they take/teach online classes (Statement #9).
For students, more familiar with text messaging and instant messaging, "interaction" may not necessarily involve faceto-face contact. Student respondents showed a slight level of agreement with the statement that tests were more difficult in an online class, while faculty respondents disagreed with this statement (Statement #11). While both groups of respondents agreed that online classes basically require students to teach themselves the material, faculty respondents showed a significantly higher level of agreement (Statement #12).
When presented with the statement that online classes require students to be more self-disciplined, the students showed a significantly higher level of agreement than did faculty respondents (Statement #14).
Faculty respondents disagreed that the technology required to take online classes increases the value of the experience, while the student respondents agreed (Statement #13). This may be one of the more important findings.
A possible explanation for the difference in faculty vs. student attitudes could be in the respective group's perception of the term "experience."
For the student, the learning "experience" involves not only the course material (be it Shakespeare or Statistics), but also the evolving technology by which it is delivered. The final statement for which there was a significant difference between student respondents and faculty respondents occurred when both groups were asked if they would take/teach as many online classes as possible in the future (Statement #8) - the faculty respondents showed a significantly stronger level of disagreement with this than did the student respondents, whose level of disagreement was slight.
Given the additional effort involved, especially in the initial stages, in designing and teaching an online course, it is not surprising that faculty generally may not be enamored with the pedagogy. With regard to statements for which there were no significant differences, both groups exhibited about the same level of agreement that the degree of interaction/lecture is greater in a regular classroom setting than in an online class (Statement #2). Both groups had about the same level of agreement that online courses allow students to study at their own pace (Statement #4). Both groups of respondents agreed that the textbook takes on a greater level of importance in an online class (Statement #10). With respect to course types, both groups showed about the same level of agreement with the statement that math and other quantitative courses are among the most difficult for college students (Statement #3). Both groups felt about the same regarding the statement that nonquantitative business courses should not be offered online (Statement #5); both groups were essentially neutral on this question. In order to explore these differences even further, significance tests were run between two groups of interstakeholders, including faculty vs. students who had taught/taken online classes before, and subsequently, faculty vs. students who had not taught/taken online classes before. When tests of significance were run between the first group of inter- stakeholder s - that is, those who had taught or taken online classes before - significant differences were found on five of the Likert-type statements. These differences are shown in Table 4.
Faculty respondents without prior online teaching experience exhibited significantly more agreement with the statement that an advantage to students is the flexible class times associated with online classes - students with no prior online experience also agreed, but the faculty agreement level was significantly higher (Statement #1). Faculty respondents in this category felt a stronger level of agreement that meeting outside the classroom was important to them than did the students (Statement #6).
Faculty seem to miss the face-to-face interactions more than the students (Statement #9). Faculty respondents strongly disagreed that they would try to teach as many online classes as possible in the future, and this disagreement was significantly stronger than the students' attitudes about taking online classes in the future (Statement #8). It is likely that, had this faculty wanted to teach such a class, they already would have, and they probably have decided that they do not ever wish to do so. Students without online experience feel more strongly than faculty without such experience that tests in online classes are more difficult for students (Statement #11). This could be a part of the reason why these students have never taken an online class to date.
Faculty respondents showed a significantly higher level of agreement that online classes require students to teach themselves (Statement #12), while student respondents more strongly agreed that online classes require greater self-discipline on the part of the student (Statement #14). When asked if they thought the technology required for an online class increased the educational experience, even though they had no prior online class experience, the students showed a stronger level of agreement than the faculty with no experience, who in fact disagreed slightly (Statement #13). Results of this study suggest strongly that differences in perception about online learning persist between faculty and students.
Although not measured by our analysis, it is worth mentioning that at least one reason for differences in perception about online learning between faculty and students may be due to the heterogeneous points of view and motivations for online learning between faculty and students. As already indicated, students have come to expect the availability of online courses, though this expectation does not in any way assure a "buy in" by faculty. As indicated in our review of the literature, results of our study are similar to those indicated by Wilkes, Simon, and Brooks (2006) in that faculty perceptions toward online learning are significantly less favorable than students' perceptions toward online learning. In contrast to their study, our study does not distinguish between "pure" online courses and "blended" (or "hybrid") online learning.
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 42)
Measures of student engagement offer valuable indicators of educational quality, yet have been limited to use in on-campus settings.
The authors used key engagement dimensions that the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) defined to measure student engagement in online courses from 3 universities.
Online students were modestly engaged in selected NSSE dimensions and had a pattern of engagement that differed from on-campus students.
Studies on the effectiveness of online learning fall into three broad categories: (a) students' outcomes, focused on test scores and grades; (b) student attitudes about learning; and (c) overall student satisfaction with online learning. Findings largely support the view that the learning outcomes of students online are similar to those in face-to-face settings (Palloff & Pratt, 2001).
Objective judgment of the student's knowledge and learning is still important for all stakeholders, including the learner, the instructor, and the educational institution (Valenti, Cucchiarelli, & Panti, 2001). The evaluation of online learning needs to go beyond these measures and consider the quality of the learning experience as a whole. Measures of student engagement offer such an evaluation. Student engagement pertains to the time and physical energy that students expend on activities in their academic experience (Jacobi, Astin, Ayala, 1987; Kuh, 2003).
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) measures dimensions of engagement on the basis of the widely cited Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education by Chickering and Gamson (Kuh, 2001). Though the NSSE was created for on-campus education, the Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education serves as its foundation, and the principles have been widely applied to online learning. Chickering and Erhmann (1996) published guidelines on how online education can be done in ways consistent with these principles.
Much as application of the principles of good practice has been extended to the online setting, selected dimensions of the NSSE show promise for investigating student engagement in online learning.
In the present study, we measured the level of student engagement in online learning in undergraduate education using specific dimensions of engagement considered to be effective educational practices: level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, and enriching educational experiences (Kuh, 2001). That measurement was a first step toward the broader application of student engagement, from the traditional classroom to the online learning environment. In our survey research, students were required to complete an online selfadministered questionnaire relating to their experiences as students in online learning environments.
Instead of test scores, student engagement focuses on the level of academic effort and quality of active and collaborative learning.
Instead of indicating what resources are available to the student, student engagement indicates what the student does with the resources that are available. It is used to decipher the type and depth of interaction between the faculty and student.
Facilitating, mentoring, and moderating are techniques promoting student engagement.
Rather than measuring a concern about the reputation of the college, the measure of student engagement focuses on the quality of enrichment in the overall educational experience (Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research, 2003).
NSSE was built on five benchmarks: level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student interaction with faculty members, enriching educational experience, and a supportive campus environment.
The population of interest was undergraduate students from Oklahoma State University of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Northeastern State University of Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
A total of 225 students participated. Of these, 24 responses were incomplete.
In all four benchmarks-level of academic challenge, student-faculty interaction, active and collaborative learning, and enriching educational experience-the engagement scores ranged from 5.13 to 5.87.
The 2003 NSSE survey reported that on a 10-point scale derived from engagement scores, most colleges fall somewhere between 4 and 6. NSSE considered these indexes of modest levels of student engagement (IUCPR, 2003).
Although the intent of the survey was not to focus on comparisons with oncampus engagement, the 2006 NSSE scores were used as a benchmark to illustrate the depth of engagement online (see Table 1). Online students reported higher levels of engagement than both freshmen and senior on-campus students on each of the four benchmarks.
There was no difference in the level of student-faculty interaction. Compared with the freshmen from these highly engaging institutions, online freshmen respondents had greater student-faculty interaction and a more enriching educational experience.
The level of academic challenge scored lower with online students. (IUCPR, 2006a; IUCPR, 2006b.)
Learning communities that are inevitable in the online classrooms are really communities of inquiry to advance mental thinking (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996; Conrad & Donaldson, 2004; Lorenzo & Moore, 2002). Duderstadt, Atkins, and Houweling (2002) affirmed, "When implemented through active, inquirybased learning pedagogies, online learning can stimulate students to use higher order skills such as problem solving, collaboration, and stimulation" (p. 75).
In a typical week, the online student had to work on one to three problem sets that took more than 1 hr to complete and another one to three problem sets that required less than 1 hr of work.
Almost half of the students reported that there was very little emphasis on speaking skills.
Online learning served to promote basic academic skill development, with the exception of speaking skills. Student-faculty interaction relates to the nature and frequency of contact that students have with their faculty.
The level of contact was exemplary. With the exception of 4%, all students indicated they received feedback at least sometimes.
Prompt feedback is particularly vital for the online student who can otherwise suffer effects of isolation and detachment (Schwartz & White, 2000).
Grades and assignments were popular topics of discussion. Approximately 40% of the students interacted with the faculty on these issues often or very often and approximately 90% had these discussions at least sometimes.
Online discussions on readings and class notes were at a modest level. Only a quarter of the students interacted often or very often on these matters. In all, 56% indicated that they sometimes had these discussions.
Only 2% of students interacted with the faculty very often on career matters. Another 16% often interacted with the instructor on career issues. Approximately 40% of students had never discussed their careers with the faculty. This suggested that engagement in this area was less than optimal, because Kuh (2003) suggested that career plans merit discussion once or twice per semester.
Avendano (2003) aptly described student engagement as having varying levels of quantitative and qualitative aspects of involvement.
A conclusive benefit of online learning was the expertise that students developed in computer skills. It seemed intuitively clear that because students were highly engaged in using the computer to meet academic requirements, they developed an array of computer skills. Other than general gains in the use of computing and information technology, students acquired skills in quantitative analysis aided by computer technology, and approximately 90% of students gained at least some general expertise on use of computer and information technology.
Almost half the students communicated regularly on matters not related to the course. Approximately 20% never communicated socially with their peers. Online students might occasionally seek reading materials not related to their course through the online library resources. In all, 45% sometimes made these visits.
Three quarters of the students participated in online class discussions at least sometimes. Approximately 40% were often or very often engaged in these discussions.
Female students also reported more gains in writing skills, and male students indicated greater benefits from quantitative skill development. Male students interacted more with the faculty on readings, grades, and assignments, and they undertook Web page development and multimedia presentations more frequently.
Female students reported higher levels of collaboration with peers on class projects.
The students aged 25 years and older were geared more toward higher levels of thinking than the respondents who were younger than 25 years old; the former worked harder to meet expectations, were more engaged in participation in collaborative projects, and made more contributions to online class discussions. The older students tended to center their online discussions solely on course-related matters, whereas their younger counterparts (less than 25 years old) were more engaged in online social communication.
Of all the age groups, students aged 25-34 years reported the most gains in many educational outcomes. They noted the most gains in academic skill development such as writing, critical thinking, and quantitative analysis.
The older students interacted more frequently with the faculty than did any of the other age groups. There were substantially more benefits to their ability to work effectively with others. They were more involved in technology-aided coursework. Both these participants and senior students aged 45-54 years reported extensive benefits in learning to solve real-world problems.
Students younger than 25 years old made more efforts to visit the electronic library outside of class requirements. These engagement results provided an understanding of the type and level of student engagement in online learning.
Curriculum design should focus on increasing student-faculty interaction on readings and class-related materials. The prevalent level of engagement in these discussions was unexpectedly lower than other areas of interaction.
The online curriculum should actively engage students through challenging academic rigor, consistent and timely student-faculty interaction, a collaborative learning environment, and activities that enrich the development of the student.
Subsequent surveys can track engagement trends across successive cohorts of students in higher education. Palomba and Banta (1999) suggested that because characteristics of the student body remain relatively constant over time, this approach reveals how programs and program changes are working. Replication of this study with a substantially larger sample will offer increased statistical power and greater insights.
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 34)
Abstract (Summary) The online participatory exam transforms the traditional exam into a constructivist, cooperative and engaging learning experience. Students learn from designing and answering exam questions, from evaluating their peers' performance, and from reading questions, answers and evaluations. This paper, aimed at faculty who teach online and at researchers interested in online learning, describes the procedures, advantages, and disadvantages of this new approach to the examination process.
The online participatory exam transforms the traditional exam into a constructivist, cooperative and engaging learning experience. Students learn from designing and answering exam questions, from evaluating their peers' performance, and from reading questions, answers and evaluations. This paper, aimed at faculty who teach online and at researchers interested in online learning, describes the procedures, advantages, and disadvantages of this new approach to the examination process.
Considering only the higher education sector in the U.S., overall online enrollment in for-credit university courses exceeded 2 million students in 2005 (Allen and Seaman, 2005).
Students are authorized to participate in the entire exam life cycle including creating, grading as well as answering the exam questions, which all takes place in a virtual learning environment. Although each student individually answers his or her questions, all students in ALN can see the questions, answers and grading commentaries of others, thus fostering a collaborative learning environment.
Requiring students who are taking an asynchronous course online to travel to an examination site to take a timed examination in isolation from the rest of the class, for example, is contradictory to the pedagogical principles of effective online teaching (Alavi and Dufner, 2005). Is giving them an online quiz consisting of short answer questions, not for feedback and self-assessment but to serve as a summative measure of knowledge gained.
To determine the validity of the above research questions, we designed a set of five-point Likert scale type questions, including "I enjoyed the flexibility in organizing my resources," "I was motivated to do my best work," and "I enjoyed the examination process" as the RQ1 indicators (see Table 4). To address RQ2 and RQ3 in terms of student "perceived learning" and learning phases in the participatory examinations, we explicitly examine whether students report learning from making up questions, reading other people's work, grading other students' answers, and whether they develop critical thinking and fact integration skills etc. (see Table 5).
The objectivist approach promotes teacher-centered learning. Students' performance is primarily assessed by their teachers.
From a constructivist point of view, learning is student-centered. In this approach, actual learning takes place when students actively construct their knowledge through social interactions with their peers.
The participatory examination process engages students in all levels of cognitive skills. Students need to grasp surface knowledge and have basic understanding of the subject to create exam questions for their peers (this involves knowledge, comprehension and application levels).
Students need to grade the exam questions designed by themselves, which involves assessment skills. This results in deep learning in that the participatory exam learning process involves seeing logical relationships and patterns among pieces of information instead of simply memorizing surface knowledge (Entwistle, 2000; Hargreaves, 1997).
In traditional education, assessment is conducted entirely by the instructor. With participatory examination, the assessment is closely tied with student learning processes since students experience both assessing their peers' work and being assessed by their peers.
A structured peer assessment approach helps students to understand the mechanism and implementations of working in teams (Goode and Teh, 2005).
Medley (1998) argues that online finals in computer programming courses can better represent students' learning and can provide clear and immediate feedback for students, while students reported considerable stress in online examinations (Woit and Mason, 2000).
Figure 2 shows the two major processes in the participatory exam: the instructor's control process and the students' learning process.
Assign exam question IDs. When all students understand their roles in the participatory exam, the instructor will assign students exam question IDs.
Each student is required to design two exam questions that synthesize the course's multiple topics.
The instructor assigns two exam questions to each student. This process is random in order to minimize the possibilities that students who know each other might exchange their exam question IDs and answer each others' questions.
There are two levels of student graders in the participatory exam. Usually the authors of the exam questions will be assigned as the first level graders; the doctoral students in this class are responsible for the second level grading.
In summer 2002, because no doctoral students registered for CIS677, all masters students had a chance to work as secondlevel graders.
Read other questions, answers, grade justifications and disputes. Throughout the whole exam process, students can read their peers' work. Because no questions are exactly the same, peers' answers help students broaden their understanding of course topics and motivate them to read more. Students learn through reading other questions, grade justifications and disputes - both specifically as they craft their own, and out of general interest and curiosity. The number-of-times-read count in figure 1 attests to how much of this peer reading occurred.
Creating questions requires students to determine how to best assess the course material. Students post their questions anonymously by assigned question IDs.
In order to maximize grading fairness, doctoral students (Fall 1999, Spring 2000, Fall 2000 and Spring 2002 semesters) or the Master's students (Summer 2002) used the same grading criteria to provide a second opinion grade and justification.
We designed the participatory exam to engage students in active and thoughtful participation throughout the exam lifecycle. In this procedure they are involved in all aspects except administrating the online environment, developing grading criteria (which we discuss further in section 6), assigning final grades and resolving disputes (which they initiate).
As fits with constructivism, the instructor plays the important role of mentoring the process, which includes ensuring the appropriateness of questions, answering queries and providing guidance. Participation exam scoring reinforces this; a portion of the exam grade can be assigned for the quality of the questions designed in addition to the quality of the critique and grading of the other students' answers.
From the Fall 1999 to Summer 2002 semesters, we conducted longitudinal field studies in CIS677 distance learning and blended (face-to-face supplemented by online) sections at a U.S. public research university. 240 students participated in the participatory exam studies.
The questionnaire data show there is a big gap between student expectations and the final feelings about course difficulty. When the students were asked to rate their expectations of the course difficulty, 39% thought it would be difficult or very difficult. When the students answered the question "How easy/difficult do you FIND this course is," the real course difficulty level was significantly higher, compared with student expectations. 79% found the course actually to be difficult or very difficult (see table T). Therefore, we postulate that perceived course difficulty is relevant to how the students rated the participatory exam.
Only 47.5% reported that the grading process was fair and 47.1% of students thought adding Ph.
The exam process quality index had a relatively low Cronbach Alpha value (0.61), possibly because we used slightly different questions in later semesters in our study. This Alpha value is still validated at the minimum level. 59.5% agreed that they did enjoy the exam process. This seemingly low enjoyment percentage probably was influenced by the WebBoard(TM) system crash in Spring 2000, which decreased the perceived exam enjoyment in that semester. Although the system crash caused student frustration in one semester, perceived exam enjoyment is still strongly demonstrated by perceptions of study motivation (66.4% agreeing) and flexibility (75.1%) in organizing their resources.
We are concerned whether the participatory examinations are a good learning experience for students (see Table 5). As students are in a unique constructivist learning procedure, in what ways do they learn from the participatory exams? What types of learning abilities do students attain from the participatory exams? The data analysis results show that 63.8% of students thought the exam successfully demonstrated what they learned from the course. Almost 60% of students felt they mastered the course materials. We found that students have learned from almost all exam phases, for example, 60.4% of students reported that they learned from making up exam questions, 60.8% of students gained knowledge from reading other people's answers, and 65.8% of students learned from grading other people's answers. Students reported that their learning abilities and skills were strengthened in many ways. Specifically, 68.6% of students realized that their critical thinking skills were enhanced; 71% felt that their ability to integrate and develop generalizations was improved; and 69.5% learned how to value others' work. 65.2% felt that they were stimulated to do additional reading.
By comparison, many fewer students (25%) in Fall 2000 and only 14% in Spring and Summer 2002 would have preferred to take a traditional exam.
This is perhaps because reducing the effort of memorizing course materials decreased the course workload, so that students recommended the participatory exam for future use. Many interesting issues arise from giving students the responsibility to assess their own knowledge of the field and that of their peers. The main concern normally raised is fairness - assessment traditionally is the job of the professor and would students not be qualified to judge others? We counter with the argument that in their profession they will be called upon constantly to assess designs, products and people.
We believe that graduate students (and in most cases undergraduates as well) are perfectly capable of judging one another. Plus the professor has an overview and final say over the process. (Unfortunately, for fear of corrupting study results, we could not tell students that theoretically they should learn more from the constructivist aspects of this process.) We still need to work harder to reassure students of the fairness of these aspects, and to give them the confidence that they have the right and privilege to be assessors.
We did not set up an official control group to compare the learning effectiveness of participatory exam with other forms of exam, i.e., traditional exams and collaborative exams, and thus our current study results provide only a subjective comparison. A subsequent thesis building on this study uses an experimental design (Shen, 2005). Overall, our study results demonstrate that students enjoyed their online participatory examination assessment experiences, and they have learned from all phases of the exam process including designing, reading, answering and evaluating exam questions. Compared to the traditional exams, students reported that they preferred the participatory exams. Therefore, the participatory exam was proved to be an innovative and promising online assessment method, which can benefit online education and training.
In future studies, we hope to broaden the types of exam questions (e.g., short essay, programming), the levels of students (high school through graduate) and the types of courses (e.g., engineering, humanities). We also plan to use this approach to engage students in the full lifecycle of other types of problems (e.g., quizzes, homework, labs, semester projects), which would give students additional experience across the semester. We shall look for collaborators to join us in this effort.
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 31)
Hollywood: Mar 2008. Abstract (Summary) This article is directed to teachers who are making preparations to teach online courses. It discusses the need to re-learn teaching techniques as one makes the transition from teaching in a classroom to teaching through a computer. The examples are largely from experiences the authors had in designing their own online courses. The literature on online learning includes many articles on technical issues, course design, and studies comparing online and traditional courses with regard to such things as learning effectiveness and student preference.
This article is directed to teachers who are making preparations to teach online courses. It discusses the need to re-learn teaching techniques as one makes the transition from teaching in a classroom to teaching through a computer. The examples are largely from experiences the authors had in designing their own online courses. The literature on online learning includes many articles on technical issues, course design, and studies comparing online and traditional courses with regard to such things as learning effectiveness and student preference.
Some researchers found online students scored lower than students in classroom courses (Terry, Lewer, and Macy, 2003). Another category of research is about students.
Marquardt heralds the action learning process wherein students take initiative and ownerships for the research and problem solving process (Marquardt, 2004). Others recommend discussion forums for connecting students (Tham and Werner, 2005), games to keep students interested (Palloff and Pratt, 1999), and cases so students can share their experiences (Tham and Werner, 2005).
The most recent trend has been to teach languages using the principles of communicative competence. This is a teaching methodology that emphasizes student interaction and the adaptation of the curricula to subject matter of interest to the student.
In hybrid courses, students meet for class half the time of a regular class.
Guided discovery is more appropriate for online learning. In guided discovery strategy, students learn on their own by observing the phenomena, asking questions, allowing time for inquiry, or conducting activities and experiments followed by feedback.
Or, the instructor could assign the students the task of developing and translating a web page into Spanish for a new product to be launched in a Latin American country. They could also be required to write letters to a list of possible clients in Spain in order to introduce the services of a new company coming from Latin America, which would entail cross-cultural information and language decoding between one Spanish speaking country and another. The second part of the new tool of course design is the use of new activities. Whereas a classroom teacher may use charisma, humor, interesting lectures, and current cases to stimulate student interest, this won't be possible when lectures disappear.
There may be games, like Jeopardy, wherein students must produce correct answers to earn points.
There can be map, grammar, and vocabulary games. Many of these activities have been used in general foreign language classes. They can be adapted to the specialized vocabulary of Spanish for Business which deals with accounting, finance, and marketing. Ms. Adelia Ruiz, a graduate student at Florida International University, invented a game for students in her Spanish for Business online class in which they would have to learn the vocabulary from the various chapters in the text in order to perform certain tasks which were involved in organizing a new company. Successful completion of each task allowed students to move up in the company until they finally managed to become the CEO of the new firm.
In classroom teaching, tests are usually the major tool for evaluating student learning.
If a test is only available for three days, then some students are absent and miss the test. Then the teacher has to open the test for each student and then grade it and this can be a time-consuming chore.
Projects can be assigned that require students to do the same things: read assigned chapters, memorize a few things, and learn how to use the material. Instead of a test on all the factors determining political risk in doing business in a foreign country, a student could be asked to determine the political risk of five countries and rank order them.
Each student could have a different set of countries to rank order.
When homework assignments and term papers are submitted online, problems develop. The first problem is that the instructor faces the dilemma of either printing out every page of student work or grading on-screen.
A substitute for the hard copy homework assignment is homework that requires students to search the Internet, collect data, discuss with group members, and design a solution. It gives students an opportunity to enter the environment, try out their solutions and see the results.
Requiring student performance each week becomes more critical when the student does not attend classes. "Both asynchronous and synchronous technology options should be considered when designing instructional sequences (Levitch, 2003)."
Online chats can be required and monitored by the professor. They can be topic oriented, so that the teacher can review students' understanding of a particular part of the course. Or, they can just be practice for students in a foreign language course with the teacher correcting their grammar and vocabulary on screen.
Instead of writing a typical term paper on how to conduct business in a foreign country, and writing eight pages, a student would do all the research, collect and organize the information, then submit it on the computer in an easily gradable format designed by the instructor. The disadvantage for handling homework and papers this way is that it is time consuming to carefully design projects that require students to learn every detail of the course. It is also time consuming to design the entry formats for the submissions.
Require students to submit work in a specific format that is easily graded. They can submit work on forms, with blank spaces. They can be taught to use only certain words. Then their answers or papers can be machine graded or graded by a teaching assistant.
A teacher could record the number of entries as an indicator of student participation in the learning community.
In traditional teaching, one may spend 60-70% of course preparation time on creating lectures. It may be that 10-20% of the time is spent on creating other class activities, leaving 10-20% of the time for grading student work. These are just general measurements and do not cover the full array of college courses.
With online courses, since there are no lectures, it is even more important to carefully structure all student work.
The other issue is when the investment in time is made. Online instructors may be spending 60-70% of their time designing the course, rather than creating lectures. Then they may be spending 10-20% of their time just designing how the student work is going to be submitted and graded. This takes new online instructors by surprise and it may take a few semesters of experience before they appreciate the new proportion of time they need to spend on design tasks.
All the material for evaluating student work needs to be well thought out and available to students before the semester begins.
Transitioning to Online. In a totally online course, a student feels isolated with just their course materials and the computer screen.
Programs are now available that offer more rich communication than an e-mail. Students can now create their own groups after they have learned something about each other. Professors can require students to create Student Webpages in which they describe themselves and post pictures. Professors can run exercises that ask students to reveal themselves; examples are to post names of five people they admire and explain why, or post the name of their favorite place to visit and describe why.
There could be a prize offered to the student who makes the most online connections with other students. After doing these exercises, online students may actually know more about their classmates than face to face students.
As one writer states, "the Internet allows a new level of interactivity as it eliminates the temporal and spatial rigidity of office hours or class meeting times. It virtualizes the walls of the university, creating 'elsewhere' learning (Volery, 2001)." This can be helpful for international courses, allowing students to pursue information all over the world.
In online courses, students have instant access to professors via e-mails. It is a complaint from professors, that students ask every question that pops into their minds and they expect a 24/7 response. Professors are dealing with this by having online office hours in a chat format. Other times, the professor sets parameters for e-mails: no e-mail will be answered if it is on the syllabus, professor will attempt to respond within 24 hours, and all technical questions should be submitted to technical support personnel. "The key to communication is for the instructor to create their unique cyber presence integrated throughout the course. Such a presence will make the recommended clear communication, support and guidance, interactivity, and personal learning, a reality (Al-Bataineh et al., 2005)."
Technology is not the only thing new online teachers need to learn. They need to learn how to step off the stage and become a learning coach. They need to consider every part of the course and re-design the course for online delivery. This involves learning new teaching methodologies such as structuring projects to be done online, structuring homework to be graded by computers, and finding a substitute for online testing, where it is too easy to cheat. This entails a significant change in how instructors spend their time; there is a major move from spending time evaluating student work during the semester to spending time on structuring assignments before the course even starts.
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 30)
A consistent design and structure also helps students understand and navigate online coursework more easily.
For the faculty member, developing a personal profile provides the first real opportunity to set the tone for the course with students, because students naturally go to the professor's profile first. In addition to providing a summary of the instructor's educational background and experience in teaching online, a profile gives the teacher a chance to describe his or her expectations and aspirations for the course and for the students taking it.
Student postings tend to be abbreviated and range from interesting and informative to poorly done.
The speed and capabilities of new generations of networking are making it possible to include inexpensive, quality video in educational software. This capability will revolutionize online teaching once again by adding an important new dimension to course management systems for professors to utilize. Students post answers to the discussion questions during one week and instructors critique their responses, usually a week later after the deadline for that week has passed and all students have finished posting. Professors should also post their own answers to the discussion questions to help students learn as part of this weekly process of critiquing. All students can see all of these postings. This is all very time-consuming, but it is at the heart of the online teaching process and instructors should certainly do it systematically, consistently, and on a timely basis (Arbaugh, 2001).
Discussion questions are open-ended. They are loaded into a part of the CMS that employs a threaded bulletin board type of software (called the 'discussion board' or 'course room') where students can append (or post) their answers for each question online. This is all done asynchronously; students can post answers at different times, and even change them if they choose, until the assignment deadlines. The number and nature of these discussion questions varies depending upon the preferences of the instructor and the nature of the course. Some choose, for example, a larger number of short answer essay questions while others (especially those teaching graduate students online) prefer one or two significant essay questions that seriously challenge the students' critical thinking about the assignments (Greenlaw and DePoach, 2002). Students are encouraged to write and post their answers online before looking at the postings of other students, although every student can see the postings that have been made by every other student once posted. Part of the requirements for each week's work should be that students read and consider the postings of other students and the instructor's responses to them as part of the learning process in the course room. This is analogous to listening to class discussions in a conventional classroom.
Often, an online course will include a requirement that students dialog regularly with one another. This is accomplished by requiring students to comment substantively about the postings of several of their fellow students each week. Students are graded on these dialogs as well as the essay answers that they develop for the discussion questions.
Starting slowly helps assure that each student can more easily become comfortable with the mechanics of cyber learning and familiar with the nature and structure of the assignments in the beginning weeks of the course.
Allowing students to post early tends to lessen the collaborative dialoging among students, especially for the better students who are often the ones posting early. These questions will come up in an online class and the instructor would be well advised to plan carefully and provide students with a detailed statement of what is expected of them at the beginning of the course. Trying to field each question as it arises during the course is problematic, especially after students have already made assumptions that they think reasonable and acted accordingly. Another fundamental issue in an online course is determining the basis for assessing student performance (Bowman, 2003; Brown and Liedholm, 2002). The instructor must plan this aspect of the course very carefully in order to be perceived by his or her students as treating students objectively, fairly, and consistently.
Online coursework tends to de-emphasize examinations as a form of student assessment.
Assessment of student work in an online environment is difficult at best. The same kind of difficulties may reside in the conventional classroom.
From a practical perspective and with today's technology, what can an instructor do to assess online student performance? Throughout a fifteen week session that includes frequent dialogs with individual students, a professor invariably develops a sense of each student's communication style and content knowledge.
Student postings of answers and dialoging about the discussion questions demonstrate clarity of thought, grasp of concepts presented in the readings, and analytical ability applied to the topics in the course. This can be a solid basis for assessment.
The instructor must be very clear about the levels of online interaction required of students, as well. Whatever the instructor decides, it should be planned in detail and explained to the students early in the course so that they know what they are to do and how their work will ultimately be evaluated. Part of being successful in teaching online is gaining enough experience so that potential problems can be recognized and averted before they become serious. One of the most difficult of these situations is when an online student simply disappears. He or she stops posting or otherwise participating in the course. The student does not answer emails, or perhaps his or her email does not work anymore.
After several or many weeks have passed, the missing student then contacts the professor claiming something terrible has happened somewhere far away and the student has been caught up in a crisis. What is the professor to do? How does an instructor decide whom to believe and whom not to believe? Should every excuse be acceptable since none can effectively be verified without considerable effort on the part of the instructor? This is part of course planning that an online professor must consider, because it will happen and handling such questions fairly in the middle of everything else can be problematic.
The tendency is for inexperienced online teachers to minimize communicating with students. This is a characteristic of the'sink or swim' mentality. Tell the students what is to be done; and they either do it; or they do not. This approach is too harsh for most experienced online educators. Students need to be met where they are and guided in a process of learning using Internet tools and technologies.
Guiding the students, communicating about the subject matter, fostering collaborative learning, and managing student expectation about the course on every level are the hallmarks of excellent online teaching (Hiltz and Turoff, 2002; Mabrito, 2001).
There are ample opportunities for one-on-one communications with each student, mostly through emails or sometimes telephone calls or rarely personal meetings. It is, unfortunately, easy to be inconsistent or unclear in such communications and sometimes answer the same questions differently for different students.
The student, of course, receives what is said with finality. Such questions tend to be spread out over longer periods of time, which may make the answers given earlier more difficult to remember for the teacher. Questions tend to be more random and 'out of the blue.' Students ask about a range of different topics and issues in a course, jumping around from topic to topic because they are operating independently. There is very little continuity here because these communications tend to be disjoint. Online instructors can be trapped, if they are not wary. Students will quickly decide that the teacher is incompetent and does not really know what he or she wants if they recognize problems here. It is critical for the online teacher to keep track of directives given to individual students and make sure that responses are consistent and repeated for everyone in the class. It is also too easy in this situation to promise a student something and then fail to follow up. Teaching online is difficult enough without having students who are disillusioned because the teacher has been inconsistent with them or failed to keep a promise that was made.
How do students know what the teacher expects of them? In the online world, there is no face-to-face contact, no body language, and no tone of voice to help students know what is most important.
The instructor feels that the student must do what everyone else has done to get credit for the course; and the student feels misled, under pressure, and discouraged for having to redo work that the teacher probably should have made clearer in the first place. There is a fundamental need in online education for the teacher to state expectations for student behaviors and performance early in the course and reiterate these expectations, reinforcing them continually, throughout the course. A key part of this is to be on the lookout for any early signs of trouble with any student, including even slight deviations from expected behavior in the course.
If email does not work, make a phone call. Usually, a student will answer back quickly citing some minor disruption and will be pleased that the teacher cared enough to notice, but sometimes there are real problems troubling a student and knowing about such situations early can make it possible to work out a way to salvage the student's semester. Good students sometimes have bad problems and helping them get through the semester is a worthwhile goal if it can be accomplished.
Students can evaporate and disappear from an online course if the teacher allows that to happen. Other students will certainly notice that disappearance. They will want to know where a missing student has gone. To ensure continuity, the class can be reassured if the teacher can relate that there is an unusual situation, without disclosing the actual problem, and that the student is really not missing and other arrangements are being made for him or her to finish the course. Quality online teaching requires extensive interaction between the teacher and his or her students. This interaction demands a commitment of the teacher's time, so the number of students in an online course has a significant impact on the level of interaction that is possible.
Ideally, the number of students enrolled in an online course should be limited.
For a new course or a new instructor, fifteen to twenty students in an online class is probably ideal.
Fewer students mean less diversity of opinion as well. Bringing together students from different backgrounds and with diverse viewpoints has from its inception been a traditional strength of online education (Barth, 2004). Classes that are too small dilute this strength.
Take, for example, an online course of twenty students compared to one of forty or fifty students.
An online course designed for fifteen to twenty students is necessarily a different kind of course from one designed for thirty-five or fifty. It is unwise to take a class designed for twenty students and enroll forty or fifty in it. Much of what has been said in this paper deals with motivating students to succeed in an online learning environment.
Online education allows professors to capitalize on the resources of the Internet in developing and presenting a body of knowledge to students. Guiding students through these resources in their quest to master that body of knowledge has the potential to provide a richer learning experience than that found in a conventional classroom.
A well structured and documented course with clearly specified requirements and expectations gives students the confidence and grasp to engage actively in the online course setting. A teacher that is communicating with students regularly and showing both enthusiasm for the course material and for the online teaching process, and helping them learn, greatly increases the motivation of the students to perform.
If class requirements are vague or ambiguous or contradictory, students will become discouraged and quickly lose interest. If they cannot achieve clarity somehow, they will interpret the situation as best they can and operate accordingly. This is not likely to be what the instructor intended, resulting in conflict. If students perceive that a faculty member is not engaging in an online course, they will be much less likely to engage themselves. Nothing is more destructive to online student motivation than a faculty member who is not interacting with them. Without significant human contact, students may seek to get by with the least amount of effort possible, and their learning and the quality of the online course will suffer accordingly.
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 24)
West Lafayette: Summer 2008. Abstract (Summary) This is the second in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE " Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: How is teaching online different from conventional teaching? By comparing these differences along several dimensions, a set of recommended practices for online teaching emerges. This article examines issues such as online course organization and planning, teaching guidelines and constraints, relationships between students and teacher, lectures versus tutorials, and assessment of student performance.
This is the second in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE "Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: How is teaching online different from conventional teaching? By comparing these differences along several dimensions, a set of recommended practices for online teaching emerges. This article examines issues such as online course organization and planning, teaching guidelines and constraints, relationships between students and teacher, lectures versus tutorials, and assessment of student performance.
Professors must be prepared to communicate differently and to assert control appropriately in an online medium. They also need to learn to cultivate and sustain relationships with their students online, which can be a time consuming, even tedious, process but which is also a critical part of online teaching effectiveness. A competent teacher could learn how to do all of this 'on the job,' but the likelihood of failing with several highly visible online classes through trial-and-error makes that idea very risky at best. This paper focuses on a comparison of online teaching and conventional teaching, resulting in a set of recommended practices.
Essentially, it deals with the mechanics of teaching online, including course organization and planning, teaching guidelines and constraints, mentoring relationships, online tutorials, assessment of student performance, and course evaluation.
Many online courses include specific focused discussion questions for each unit, all developed before the course starts. In addition to these content focused dimensions, teachers must also document expectations for student performance and to decide how the teacher expects students to interact with him or her, and with other students, through the online media used for the course. Theoretically speaking, faculty are supposed to do this kind of detailed 'prep' for every class, including conventional ones. In the real world, professors generally know their subject matter well and, aside from spicing up a lecture with some new material every now and then, they do not do all of this detailed preparation before offering most classes. They do it as needed as a class unfolds week by week during a semester.
When students ask for clarifications through email or in chat rooms, the professor will be able to give well-thought-out, consistent answers.
Ideally, all of the online coursework offered by a given university should have one prescribed look and feel. The distinction that emerges here is that between a 'course designer' and a 'content specialist' Conventional professors perform both roles, but this will change (Bruckman, 2002; Gillette, 1999; Jones and Kelley, 2003; Porter, Griffiths, and Hedberg, 2003). Many universities are beginning to employ teams of specialists in educational technology who perform supporting roles for the online education function, such as training faculty to use course management systems or providing help desk support for online students with problems. Another new role emerging here is that of 'online course facilitator.' These individuals help faculty with online course design. They advise the faculty, who are viewed as the 'content specialists,' about design guidelines and standards to be used for their online courses.
There is a significant status differential between the online student and the instructor, just as in a conventional classroom.
Many online students are uncomfortable and tend to resist personal contacts through the online system or via emails. Differences in command of written English or in writing skills among the students can complicate this issue. It is difficult for an instructor to judge workload levels in an online course.
There is a real tendency to overload the students with work to make sure that an online course, which is potentially visible to other faculty and administrators, has a level of content and rigor equivalent to a comparable conventional course. The opposite of this is that the students can easily overestimate the level of effort that is appropriate for a given assignment and may spend much more time and energy on an assignment than intended by the instructor. Perfectly good students can 'burn out' and be lost this way. To manage these issues, a professor must take the initiative and communicate early with each student in an online class (Arbaugh, 2001). This takes a lot of effort, but it is not enough just to broadcast messages to the whole group periodically.
Forgetfulness is, therefore, a serious weakness in online teaching. This means the instructor must pursue a real quest for excellence in the electronic classroom by building relationships with individual students and keeping track of commitments. It is hard work teaching online, especially in the beginning when this process is unfamiliar.
In a traditional class, an instructor might decide to allow students to retake an exam or may want to add an additional reading to the course schedule, or revisit a difficult topic while dropping some lesser topic, or ask students to do an additional assignment, or change assignment due dates, or whatever. This is easily done. In the online course, students invest a lot of time and energy trying to understand what is going to be required of them in the course. They do not handle change very well.
Trying to change anything once student expectations are in place is confusing.
The problem is that one has to press hard to overcome the impersonal nature of the machinery that makes up the online medium. Without facial expressions or body language or much human contact, these relationships can be difficult to develop at best. The online system tends to be rigid and inflexible with minimal feedback, unless the parties involved strive to overcome its limitations (Bocchi, Eastman, and Swift, 2004; Littleton, Phil, and Whitelock, 2004). Hopefully in the future, increased speed and enhanced capability of online teaching technologies to include quality video and teleconferencing will help to alleviate some of these limitations. In the meantime, the development of relationships as a mixture of mentoring and cyber pen pal can be very worthwhile and rewarding for both the individual students and the professor (Abbott, 2005; Arbaugh, 2000; Conaway, Easton, and Schmidt, 2005; Hirschheim, 2005).
An instructor can schedule specific times each week to respond to students' questions and issues. This works perfectly well as long as students know in advance that that is the way the instructor primarily intends to interact with them. Many online students tend to be older, and they frequently have experiences that are relevant to the content of an online course being taught. They bring to the virtual classroom a level of practical understanding that is interesting to the other students, a 'real world' perspective that tends to be refreshing and stimulating. Some learners are very high ranking leaders in their professions and they could never afford to take the time from their work to pursue a degree in the conventional manner. Having several of these individuals in an online class can really help the dynamics of the interactions among students, particularly the dialog in the online classroom. They should be encouraged to take a leadership role. Students sometimes feel that they are learning more from interacting with fellow students than from other aspects of an online course. Interestingly, there is no real awareness in these online interactions as to anyone's race or creed or even actual physical location, unless an individual happens to mention these things directly.
Much of what happens in an online course can happen outside of a course management system in private emails or via other media (Bowman, 2003; Dearstyne, 2007; Phoha, 1999). Online collaboration tools such as wikis or blogs may be utilized to supplement communications, or instructors might choose to use various free voice-over-IP telephone services (such as Skype) in conjunction with an online course to further enhance communications with and among students (Chawner and Lewis, 2006; Mindel and Verma, 2006). Once they are comfortable communicating with their professors in these ways, students tend to interact more often and more informally than they would in person. This poses a problem for the instructor because much of what comes up during these private discussions is relevant and should be communicated to the entire class.
What is covered in three hours of university lecture and discussion in a conventional class setting takes a week to do in an online class. Each student completes assignments at his or her own pace and within his or her own schedule within the weekly format for typical units of work assigned.
'Discussions' are usually asynchronous dialogs posted in an online forum (like a chat room) that is accessible to all students enrolled in the course. This discussion forum is based upon a series of questions that are included in each unit for the students to answer online.
The discussion questions relate to the readings and other assignments included in each unit. They require students to analyze and integrate the readings, and to post and discuss their answers online with the professor and in dialogs with other students. For each unit, these activities are generally to be completed within the context of one week's work.
Students receive minimal teacher contact and support. Sometimes, this is all that an instructor can do, especially in a large online class. This is certainly not optimal. The second approach is the 'individual tutorial model.' If students are really to learn in an electronic classroom, then this is the approach that makes the most sense.
What the experienced online teacher comes to realize is that an online course is really an organized framework for what becomes mostly individual tutorials involving the teacher and each student in the class (Littleton, Phil, and Whitelock, 2004). Some students require less than others, but personal involvement is a hallmark of online education under this model.
Every course should conclude with the fair and equitable evaluation of each student's performance.
In many cases, congregating is simply not feasible. For the conventional instructor, then, this problem of online assessment can be a serious stumbling block. Perhaps, technology may solve this problem through facial recognition software or something similar. That is not going to happen in a cost effective way any time soon. In the meantime, professors must gain a sense of comfort with this process. Nothing is foolproof, but over the course of a semester interacting with students, reviewing their postings in the discussion forum, and jousting with them intellectually can give the teacher adequate assurance to approach the issue of student assessment with confidence.
The eventual solution is likely to be unbundling education and admission to the professions by requiring routine post graduation exams to individually certify each student's educational achievements and readiness to enter almost every career.
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice (weight: 22)
Bradford: 2008. Abstract (Summary) This paper describes an exploratory study in which an online learning system was used to provide an intercultural experience for pre-service education students from New Jersey and Namibia.
Pre-service education students from New Jersey and Namibia were enrolled in an online course in the fall of 2004.
The following semester, spring 2005, only students from New Jersey were enrolled in the course. Online discussion postings were analyzed for both course cohorts and compared. A pre/post questionnaire of students' understanding of cross-cultural differences in general, and in teaching in particular, was also administered to both course cohorts. This paper focuses on the growth of New Jersey students' understanding of what teaching in Namibia is like and also looks to see if this led to a greater understanding of their own practice. While there was an indication that the former was achieved and a number of New Jersey students did show a deeper understanding of teaching in Namibia, this did not appear to then lead to a deeper understanding of their own teaching practice. This was an exploratory pilot study, conducted principally to see if the technology supported this type of experience for students in both developed and developing nations. While this experience will never substitute for a real, in-person, exchange program or study abroad, the technology did support a limited virtual exchange program.
The study indicated that an online course is a very feasible option for providing an intercultural experience for students from developed and developing nations. In order to help students reach deeper levels of understanding of both their intercultural peers and of their own practice, students may need to be exposed to a more explicit model of inter- and intra- cultural reflection. This paper gives teacher educators and others a way of providing a virtual intercultural exchange to their students. This is particularly important for students from both developing and developed nations who do not have the financial means to participate in an actual (in-person) exchange program.
As Davis highlights, ". teacher educators are able to deploy ICT to provide rich cases and contexts for reflection across pedagogies, disciplines, and cultures" ( Davis, 1999, p. 9). Based on the work of Niki Davis, where her research suggests that "a global dimension in teacher education does have the potential to enhance quality" ( Davis, 1999, p. 9), our study attempted to gauge the influence of cross-cultural interaction on student teachers' critical reflection.
The College of Education at WPUNJ is responsible for the training and preparation of pre-service teachers for careers in primary and secondary schools. Most of the students in these programs will go on to teach in primary schools in the northern New Jersey region. This region has a very diverse socio-economic status (SES) population, with schools in disadvantaged urban areas with large numbers of minority and recently immigrated English language learners from developing nations in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Far East, and Eastern Europe. Alone, the education students need to be prepared to work with students and families who are coming from cultural, linguistic, and racial backgrounds which may be significantly different from their own.
A majority of the students do not have the financial means to participate in an actual (in-person) foreign exchange or study abroad program and most are also either working (often fulltime jobs) and/or raising families while taking courses. It should be noted that while this particular paper reports on the impact of the intercultural experience on New Jersey students, the Namibian students also had a similar intercultural experience. The Namibian students were not simply used as international models but were equally involved in their own reciprocal intercultural exposure.
There were 21 WPUNJ students in the Fall 2004 cohort and 20 in the Spring 2005 cohort.
The Fall 2004 course also included students from Namibia. Shortly before September 2004 (beginning of the fall semester for WPUNJ students, and the beginning of the third term for Namibia students), the NIED team identified one student from the BETD pre-service program from each College of Education along with one teacher-mentor from those colleges. These eight participants spent a week at the NIED facility in Okahandja, Namibia becoming familiar with the Blackboard system and the course expectations. WPUNJ students were not aware of the Namibian students in the Fall 2004 course when they first registered for it.
Once the course started, WPUNJ students were able to communicate with the Namibian students via online discussion forums and assignment sharing.
Discussion questions were formulated as open-ended with the hope of soliciting an informed opinion from the students rather than a "right" answer. It was also hoped that these discussion questions would be the basis for the intercultural sharing of ideas between WPUNJ and Namibian students.
In addition to the discussion threads for the TAC course, an online cross-cultural survey was developed and each of the WPUNJ students was asked to complete the survey at the beginning and at the end of the course.
The survey was intended to measure the New Jersey student teachers understanding of Namibia at the social as well as educational level. By asking a range of questions, students were probed for their ability to answer the questions either on their existing knowledge or their interest in seeking out additional information to answer the questions for which they did not already have information.
Some students referenced information found online to answer some of the survey questions regarding Namibia. To measure New Jersey student teachers understanding of Namibian education, the results from three of the questions were utilized for this study.
The three open-ended questions dealt specifically with education in Namibia. These three questions were chosen since the responses would provide insight into the New Jersey student teachers' cross-cultural understanding of another educational environment.
The survey responses from New Jersey students represent a wide range of responses.
At the beginning of the course, 11 New Jersey student teachers from the Fall 2004 cohort felt that Namibian teachers faced quite different educational concerns than New Jersey teachers. By the end of this course, seven of the New Jersey students felt that Namibian teachers faced very similar educational concerns as New Jersey teachers. Below are examples of such changes on the pre/post answers for two students in the Fall 2004 cohort.
At the beginning of the Spring 2005 course, seven New Jersey students felt that Namibian teachers faced quite different educational concerns than New Jersey teachers.
Not surprisingly, all but one student felt the same way at the end of the course. More interesting, however, were the changes in answers given by the few students in the Fall 2004 cohort who, in the pre-course survey, "guessed" that their Namibian peers would have the same challenges and rewards as they would. By the end of the semester, in their post-course survey, these students' answers were more explicit, giving more specific examples and thus showing a deeper understanding of what teaching was about. Below are examples of such changes on the pre/post answers for three students in the Fall 2004 cohort. Pre: I assume they must need to know the same things teachers in New Jersey need to know beside the U.S. history. Although I'm sure they learn some.
The Fall 2004 cohort responses did not suggest any great depth of understanding about Namibia but many of the students began to recognize similarities between teachers working in New Jersey and Namibia. A number of New Jersey students showed greater understanding of what it means to be a Namibian teacher and when compared to the Spring 2005 cohort, these students represent an important example about what is possible with this educational format. While the New Jersey students' responses are suggestive of a deeper understanding of a culture different from their own, we did not find that this deeper understanding of another culture consistently led to a deeper understanding of what it means to be a teacher in New Jersey.
A deeper understanding of another culture is the first step towards a deeper understanding of oneself, or, in the case of educators, one's own practice. This in itself does not automatically result in greater understanding of one's own practice, or ubuntu, as described above. The New Jersey students' increased understanding of their Namibian counterparts represents greater knowledge and understanding of other cultures, which in turn represents a move towards a more complex reflective practice. From this exploratory study, we found that technology can lead to a greater understanding of another culture and since technology can assist in achieving this fundamental step towards reflection, we feel that technology can in turn assist in achieving reflective practice. One possibility is to explicitly build in a model of reflection where intercultural exchange is introduced and explain to the student teachers that one of the goals is to increase understanding of others, to identify similarities and differences, and then use this new knowledge and understanding to reflect on and improve one's own teaching practice.
The MOE has launched an aggressive revision of the entire Namibian education system, the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP). ETSIP is designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge they will need to transform Namibia into a developed, industrialized nation.
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 12)
Abstract (Summary) Active learning strategies have been established as effective methods to increase student interaction and knowledge retention in the traditional classroom environment.
Active learning strategies have been established as effective methods to increase student interaction and knowledge retention in the traditional classroom environment.
Current methods in higher education are evolving away from static lecture based classrooms to a learning environment where students actively engage in the learning process (Strage, 2008).
In a study that surveyed college students, 32.7% of respondents stated that the ideal professor employs a wide variety of active learning strategies (Strage).
Giving students one minute to respond to a review questions dealing with the days material shows instructors how well students grasped the material. A one minute paper asking students to list questions still existing actively engages the student, in addition to empowering the student to take a more active role in their education (Stead).
There are several advantages to using case studies: role playing, emotional content capturing student attention, and cost effectiveness (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). Through role playing students can experience a wide variety of situations they may face in the future allowing them to put theory into practical application.
The emotional content captures student attention far better than a static lecture (Kreber).
Technical strategies for active learning include using clickers, podcasts and visual presentation methods to increase student participation (Austin & Mescia, 2001). By allowing an anonymous answer students are more likely to feel free to voice their thoughts, answer without fear of criticism and allow an instructor to poll students without getting a group answer (Wood, 2004). Podcasts are recorded voice files which allow learners to play the recording on their personal computers, iPods or other mobile devices.
Usages include chapter summaries, review of student work and reminders of upcoming important events (Gribbins, 2007).
Video recording is a good choice when reviewing student presentations, by recording the presentation students can evaluate themselves. "Providing learners with a variety of active learning strategies will address their many learning needs based on their learning styles and placement in their learning process" (Phillips, 2005, p. 81). Online learning creates distinct challenges for both the learner and the instructor.
Podcasting- The use of audio files to deliver content to learners allows students to hear the instructors voice, to pick up on the subtle verbal cues that an instructor may provide, and to engage in a portable and interactive course segment (Stephen, 2005). When creating an online course environment, it is important for the course developer to consider fundamental design practices, including: understanding the context and learning environment, developing strategies to support learning such as directions and sources of information, learner assessment, and designing with active learner participation in mind (Austin & Mescia, 2001). These design principles must be fit to the topic and content of the course, beginning with the basic instructional design and continuing with good teaching practices (Austin & Mescia).
Assessments may be used in the form of quizzes and exams to measure student learning and comprehension.
New Answers for E-Learning; Wikis and avatars are improving the educational experience (weight: 11)
With dorm bills and gasoline prices skyrocketing, it's no wonder 3.5 million students are now opting to stay home and take online college courses. Unfortunately, as many of those students have discovered, E-learning courses have disadvantages, too.
Some online courses are "synchronous," which means all students must be online at the same time for live discussions or exams. Others allow students to work independently throughout the week but have deadlines for assignments and tests. Still others allow students to work at their own pace and finish the course as quickly, or as slowly, as they like. Researchers say one of the biggest reasons students fail at online courses is that they aren't honest with themselves about how much time they can actually devote each week to an online course and whether they have the discipline to work without traditional course structures.
A growing number of online courses are requiring students to participate in blogs, wikis, or gamelike simulations. Those activities require students to have good computer skills and access to well-equipped computers with high-speed Internet connections.
E-learning students are generally happier with courses that start out with a well-organized and detailed syllabus and clear, logical grading criteria.
Karen Swan, who researches online learning at Kent State, says most online students are happier with courses that offer lots of smaller, weekly or biweekly assignments instead of big midterm and final exams.
The best online teachers provide information in many different ways. Sierra College's Pacansky-Brock, who was named 2007's best online professor by the Sloan Consortium, posts her lecture notes, provides audio podcasts, and uses VoiceThread--a new program that allows students to hear her talk and see her draw on and annotate slides of artwork--to get her lessons across.
Barbara Christe, who teaches biomedical engineering technology at Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, uses simulations that allow students to scroll over circuit diagrams to see how changes in current affect resistance, for example. Michigan State University has developed a Jeopardy! -like website, packed with quiz questions that science and math students can answer to see how well they've mastered key concepts. The University of Maryland-University College has developed a gamelike simulation of a crime scene for students in its criminalistics class.
Isolation is one of the most common reasons given by online students who drop out or fail, so "community-building is part of the art of teaching," says Julie Little, interim director of Educause, a nonprofit devoted to technology in education. Some schools, for example, are trying to match students with peers who take at least some of the same online classes each semester, so they get to know each other and can cheer each other on. Other colleges turn each course into an instant community by requiring students to post information about themselves on a class blog, Web page, or Facebook. Most typically require students to share their reactions to readings, assignments, and other students' work at least once a week.
Many also require students to join together to work on team projects.
Professors at Old Dominion University have E-learning students collaborate on a wiki textbook, for example.
Quick and thorough responses by professors. "The evidence shows the more access, more interaction, and more opportunities for feedback learners have from instructors, the better they do," says Christine Geith, the executive director of Michigan State's Global Online Connection. Geith, who earned her doctorate online, says she learned to seek out classes with professors who were available during more than just standard office hours. That means the best online teachers are easily accessible, if not by phone, then by E-mail, instant message, or some other method. Overseas students taking online courses stateside might prefer professors who use Skype or some other free long- distance service, for example, she notes. While some of his online courses took as little as one hour a week and were easy A's, Sierra College student Kerr says he'll seek out more online courses like his art history class. He says he finds the best classes by checking with classmates and researching professors on sites like ratemyprofessors.com. The six or so hours a week he figures he spent on the art history class was less than he typically gives to a traditional class, but much of that time is spent commuting or sitting bored in a classroom, he says. During his online class hours, he was immersed in research, thinking, writing--and learning.
On the Effects of the Application of the Business Strategy to Public Colleges of Higher Education (weight: 7)
The physist is the one that is able to explain why the shot must go in that direction. That is to say, a competent college professor must know both parts in order to teach students. These professors develop theories through scientific procedures and apply them for solving business problems. Practitioners cannot provide such a task.
As can be readily seen, intellectual property leads to two opposing trends. The first trend is when the faculty members are paid loyalty when their online courses are offered and taught by any other faculty. In this case the faculty members are stimulated to develop excellent courses, because there are some financial incentives for the developers of these courses. The faculty can receive royalty for each student taking the course, and this royalty is an additional source of income for that faculty. This incentive compels faculty to develop high quality courses, which they become excellent investment and a source of income for the faculty members. It follows that high quality courses provide students with better education and enhance the university's reputation, These courses also can be significantly used for recruiting many students. The second trend leads to a low quality course development, particularly when the faculty members understand the process. When the university does not provide long run incentives for the faculty members to develop these courses, the faculty may not develop good online and offline courses.
A simple calculation, which is based on the Leontief inputoutput model, suggests that if you exchange two thousands on campus students for two thousands online students, the community will lose the following.
Think about a situation where all 4000 students chose to have online education. The local community will be losing 43.2 million a year, but the university will receive its normal revenues from the 4000 students. This revenue however may be lower because online students do not pay some fees. If one thinks deeper about this case, the situation becomes a calamity for the future of the university, because the overhead cost and other costs of many employees will be paid by the university, given there are no students on campus. This is indeed a very high total cost.
The university has to pay for power, insurance, salaries for sport activities, high salaries for administrative positions, maintenance, and the like. These costs are usually not paid by online universities, because they do not have these activities anyway. What will the university do with many employees on campus? What will the university do with many administrators and CEOs on campus? Are we going to keep these buildings and sophisticated technologies idle? Who will pay the cost of maintenance? It is indeed true that if all students are on line students, then all these costly elements will not be needed. Simply, this university (students and faculty) can be an appendage to other campuses, and instructors can teach their courses from homes and receive their checks through automatic deposits.
All the on campus employees and supporting cast of the educational process, including buildings and land, will not be fully utilized. The cost of all these elements per student on campus will be very high. In such a condition it can be rationally argued in the future that if the university cuts the 50 percent on campus students and keeps the 50 percent on line students, the university will cut its cost tremendously or may even make profits.
The cost the university pays will be greater than the revenues obtained from the 50 percent of on campus students. Market-oriented CEOs have been habituated to cut such programs and colleges.
E-learning: The Relationship Among Learner Satisfaction, Self-efficacy, and Usefulness (weight: 7)
Implementing e-learning is common practice in public and private sectors (Zimmerman, 2001). Training mandates are central among the factors fueling this upsurge (Tucker, 2005). Although an increasing number of organizations are developing e-learning strategies to address their training needs, exploring online learning theoretically and identifying key factors that will enhance its effectiveness is necessary. While previous research studies have examined student satisfaction in a distance-learning environment, this topic has not been given adequate attention (Biner, Dean & Mellinger, 1994).
There is insufficient information that identifies the key factors related to student satisfaction (Bures, Amundsen, & Abrami, 2002; Eastmond, 1994; Gunawardona & Duphorne, 2000). Therefore, the present study addresses this need by exploring the relationships e-learning self-efficacy and perceived usefulness may have with e-learner satisfaction. The success of e-learning depends on learner satisfaction and other end-user factors such as self-efficacy and usefulness (Chen, Lin, & Kinshuk, 2004).
In conventional training settings, self-efficacy was linked to student satisfaction (Bolliger & Martindale, 2004). This same finding ws applied to the technology domain.
Investigators revealed that university students with positive Internet self-efficacy and attitudes were more inclined to perceive the Internet as a functional tool (Liaw, 2007; Peng, Tsai, & Wu, 2006).
The result obtained from Hypothesis 2 supported the empirical research findings of Peng, Tsai, and Wu (2006), whose university students demonstrated positive attitudes towards the Internet and appreciated how useful and functional it had become for educational purposes. Other researchers examined employees' attitudes and found significant and positive relationships between usefulness and satisfaction (Adamson & Shine, 2003; Bean & Bradley, 1986; Konradt, Christophersen, & Schaefer-Kuelz, 2006; Wu, Tasi, Chen, & Wu, 2006).
Hypothesis 3 was confirmed; there was a significant positive association between e-learning self-efficacy and perceived usefulness. This finding was similar to the research findings of Peng, Tsai, and Wu (2006), whose sample of college students with positive Internet self-efficacy perceptions also perceived the Internet as a valuable and functional tool.
Specifically, undergraduate and graduate students who believed that the Internet had a positive effect on people also felt confident about Internet-based communication or Internet-based interaction (Peng, Tsai, & Wu, 2006). Similar results were found when Liaw (2007) examined student and faculty perceptions regarding computers and the Internet. What is noteworthy about Liaw's (2007) research is that these perceptions influenced an individual's behavioral intentions to use computers and the Internet.
Best foot forward (weight: 7)
The decision to sponsor the marathon was based on extensive market research showing that Capella students are typically ambitious, high-achieving professionals; early adopters of new technologies; and involved in active, healthy lifestyles, particularly running. The demographics of Capella students-working adults in their 30s and 40s, 66 percent of whom are women-align well with those of typical marathon runners. Based on that research, the university decided that the primary audience for the media relations activities would be professional adults who are considering continuing their education and who are involved in active lifestyles.
An important component of the marathon sponsorship was a contest to select three Capella students to participate in the race. Students were asked to describe challenging moments in their lives, and those selected had incredibly inspiring stories: One received a Purple Heart after being wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
One lost 150 pounds through a commitment to running and healthy eating. One was a recent cancer survivor, who had to learn to walk again after breaking her neck in a car crash. All of their stories had significant potential to interest the media. Prior to the marathon, Capella pitched its story to dozens of lifestyle and health and fitness writers and editors at national consumer print publications, broadcast outlets and web sites, including Outside, Men's Health, Fitness, Runner's World, USA Today and People. Those pitches also directed recipients to training blogs that Capella set up for each of the student runners, as well as to the Antarctica Marathon web site.
In addition to arranging media interviews with the student runners and university representatives prior to the marathon, Capella organized satellite phone interviews with the runners on the day of the race for live coverage.
Capella students can pursue an advanced degree at any time, from anywhere in the world-even Antarctica. Capella students are motivated, ambitious achievers who will go to the ends of the earth to fulfill their educational dreams.
Capella's Antarctica Marathon web site (and the blogs authored by Capella's student runners) received more than 10,000 visits, more than doubling the goal of 4,000 visits.
Three Capella University students got the opportunity of a lifetime to run the Antarctica Marathon as part of Capella's sponsorship of the race.
Interest mining in virtual learning environments (weight: 6)
Unlike traditional teaching environments, when students work in electronic environments, it is impossible for the educator to retrieve students' feedback information. Educators must look for other ways to gain this information.
Unfortunately, there is a single log file for all students. This consists of a set of log files, one per student, and contains information about the interaction of the user with the system. This consists of a set of log files of caching between client browsers and web servers. This information complements the server log file. Using these log files, web-based learning environments are able to record most learning behaviours of the students, and hence are able to provide a huge amount of learning profile ( Romero and Ventura, 2007). Because they have different data sources and objectives, it is necessary to deal separately with web mining applications in different types of e-learning systems.
Web mining can be applied to explore, visualise and analyse data in order to identify useful patterns and to evaluate web activity to derive more objective feedback on one's teaching and to learn about how students learn through the LCMS ( Romero et al., 2007; Talavera and Gaudioso, 2004).
The data from AIWEBS are semantically richer and can lead to more diagnostic analysis than data from a traditional web-based education system ( Merceron and Yacef, 2004). AIWBES attempt to be more adaptive by building a model of the goals, preferences and knowledge of each individual student and using this model throughout the interaction with the student in order to adapt to the needs of that student.
Under the support of the National "Ten-Five" Key Technologies R&D Project of China, Zhejiang University provides a virtual chemical laboratory and circuit laboratory for undergraduate students ( Gu et al., 2005; Ouyang et al., 2005; Yabo and Miaoliang, 2002).
We propose the methodology of mining the learner's implicit interest via explicit behaviour analysis. Like other information retrieval applications (IRA) ( Baeza-Yates and Ribeiro-Neto, 1999), VLE needs to mine students' requirements, searching for or filtering useful information within a huge amount of data, and then provide students with the information they need. Therefore, web mining in e-learning systems, especially in VLE, is essential. The objective of interest mining in VLE is to find the student's implicit requirement, such as user interest.
Get Value from Online Training (weight: 5)
One example is Villanova University, ranked the top university in the North (Master's Division) for more than a decade by U.S. News & World Report. It is among the higher learning institutions that offer a variety of educational programs online. Based in Villanova, Pa., the university enables students virtually anywhere in the world to earn certificates online in such critical and diverse disciplines as project management, the field of managing workflows, Six Sigma, a widely used improvement methodology that reduces product or service failure rates, and information systems (IS) security, an area in which Villanova University can also prepare students for CISSP certification.
Powered by University Alliance, Villanova offers a state-of-the-art e-learning system that immerses students in a multimedia educational environment. They can view streaming video lectures on demand, and communicate with instructors and fellow students via message boards, live chat rooms, shared whiteboards and e-mail.
Perhaps the most significant feature of all is two-way Voice over IP virtual classroom with instant messaging, interactive voice technology which enables students to ask questions of instructors and dedicated subject-matter experts in real-time. These technology tools enable people to train at their own convenience, 24/7, around their own schedules, allowing them to balance education, work and family. They can learn anywhere they have access to the Internet, which is virtually everywhere thanks to wireless Internet hotspots, laptops, PDAs and other portable electronic devices.
Students receive the same high quality of education as students who attend Villanova University classes in person.
Computer-based Delivery - In keeping with the IFPO's commitment to presenting quality training using the most current, proven training delivery systems, the organization now offers a computer-based version of the program. Added to the traditional text-based version, this new version allows each student to select the training option that suits his or her personal training needs and learning styles.
How valuable are online MBAs ?; [1] (weight: 4)
Matty Smith: Not sure if there is much hard evidence from which to draw firm conclusions here, but an MBA is an MBA. Linda Anderson: An online MBA from a well-established brand or accredited school will potentially enhance your earnings in the same way as a full-time MBA, however, since most online students are juggling a job or other commitments alongside their studies, it will take you longer to acquire the MBA and consequently longer to achieve higher earnings.
An MBA class today is very rarely a lecture as might be found in undergraduate work. It is a set of organised learning experiences, so is usually going to involve quite a lot of dialogue between the teacher and class, and almost certainly some group work and student presentations.
Many business schools do not like or even permit part time PhD's, mostly because statistically there is much less chance of completion, and because the PhD student is in effect an apprentice scholar, not simply researching and writing a dissertation.
An MBA student is part of a community of scholars (lecturers and PhD students and visiting fellows who are also themselves learners). Most MBA students after graduation say that the course has above everything else built up their confidence to deal with a wide range of people and problems. This could not be done without the knowledge component, but it is a lot more than the knowledge component. Some of our very best MBA students have been in their late 40's or older. For some more mature people they are very happy with the heavy workload; they are apprehensive before coming about the reception they will get from 30 year olds, but actually they are terrific for the class as a whole and greatly valued by the younger students.
Ask the experts: Online MBA 2009 (weight: 4)
Linda Anderson: Many business schools offer the one MBA programme, delivered in a variety of formats - full-time, part-time or online. Whatever the means of study, on graduation the "value" of this MBA is the same. Online students follow the same programme as their full-time counterparts. Angel Cabrera: Informed employers are coming to appreciate the variations in quality among distance MBAs just as they do among traditional MBAs. They now also understand how a distance MBA provides the added advantage of developing the skills to work in collaborative, distributed settings, which are more and more common in the modern workplace. AC:At Thunderbird we assign the same "weight" to all degree programs regardless of whether they use online delivery or in-residence.
Depending on your own learning styles, one type of learning environment may work better for you than the other. Some students report being more effective learners in the online setting as it allows them more time for reflection and for engaging in in-depth conversations around cases and class materials. LS: Again we are limited to commenting on our blended learning programme which combines both online and live classroom instruction.
LA: Established and accredited online learning providers of MBAs are well regarded by employers. These providers offer excellent pedagogy and flexible and robust delivery. Again their MBAs are highly valued. LS: As long as the program is a reputable and rigorous initiative and the employer perceives they are receiving an ROI (return on investment) from the employees on the job contributions I believe that there is increasingly less of a stigma attached to non-traditional delivery methods. This has been confirmed by research conducted by the Executive MBA Council. Some universities allow students in their senior years to do research or assist with teaching to cover their fees/expenses. AC: Online students have the same access to their faculty at Thunderbird as in-residence students do. LS: They certainly do.
LA: The recent surge in online programmes, technological advances and synchronous delivery, has meant that online students are able to collaborate and work together closely in teams - albeit virtual ones. Such intense working patterns mean that students develop deep friendships and trust in their team mates and the issue of protecting intellectual property rarely arises.
Brick walls to distance-teaching in the east may soon crumble ASIAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS: Unexpected costs and complexities have stalled web progress, reports William Barnes; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 3)
Business students themselves, it turns out, dislike the idea of doing everything online and will go to some lengths to meet tutors and fellow students. "It is very clear that blended learning is the way to go," says Birla's Professor Natarajan.
There is also a catch-22: online business programmes firing on all academic cylinders are expensive to operate, but many potential Asian students appear reluctant, or unable, to pay the high fees.
Many people in the industry now talk of a "second phase" of modest growth in online student numbers, encouraged by a steady stream of more interactive distance degrees.
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 3)
Prior research has focused separately on student attitudes (Tanner, Noser, and Langford, 2003; Tanner et al., 2004-1, 2004-2; Tanner et al., 2006), faculty attitudes (Totaro et al., 2005), and administrator attitudes (Tanner et al., 2008).
When asked if the lack of face-to-face, student-to-student interaction associated with online classes would hinder the learning experience, faculty respondents again showed a significantly stronger level of agreement.
Faculty also agreed more strongly that online tests are more difficult to administer, and that online courses require students to teach themselves more than in a traditional class. Both groups exhibited about the same level of agreement that the flexible class times in an online class is an advantage for the student and for the faculty. They also agreed that quantitative courses in online settings are among the most difficult for college students, but both were almost neutral as to whether or not more non-quantitative business courses should be offered online. Both groups had about the same level of agreement that online course formats allow students to study at their own pace, and that online courses appeal to many students because such courses have no required, official classroom setting. Both groups also agreed that the textbook is more important in an online class than in a traditional class, and that online courses require more self-discipline by students than traditional courses. With respect to disagreement, both groups disagreed that online tests are more difficult for students. Lastly, both groups exhibited the same level of slight disagreement with the statement that the technology required for an online class adds to the educational value of the online experience, administrators being essentially neutral on this issue.
IBM opts for online MBA (weight: 2)
The online MBA programme Northeastern created for IBM's India operations "is a natural extension of the online MBA programme the school launched in 2006", according to Mike Zack, executive faculty director of online learning for the college's graduate business programmes. "It's the same classes, the same content, and same faculty." The school's online programme is targeted at working professionals who require the flexibility of a strictly web-based curriculum, Today it has more than 650 enrolled students, about 90 per cent of whom are American, and most participate in the programme from the U.S. The typical online student at Northeastern is in his late 30s, with 13 years of work experience.
The IBM India programme is targeted "at a fairly senior band of employees," says Prof Zack. "It's tailored to the company's emerging senior management. These are students who have significant work and managerial experience. They are highly motivated and know how to manage their time." The course of study is the same case-based curriculum as Northeastern's traditional part-time MBA. Students meet their professors in virtual office hours each week in real time but the bulk of interaction takes place via email, conference calls and blog postings. Prof Moore says the programme keeps CBA's faculty on their toes. "They're learning lots of things from their students and staying on the cutting edge of what's going on at IBM."
Distance Learning for Continuing Education (weight: 2)
James Tankersley, an instructor at Altamaha Technical College in Jesup, Ga., was looking to get a Bachelor's degree in HVACR technology and enrolled in the Ferris State online program. It took him 2 ½ years to complete his requirements, including a visit to the campus. "I have gained tremendous knowledge in the field of HVACR engineering and have been able to use this knowledge as an instructor, teaching students at Altamaha Technical College, as well as within my own company (Tank's Maintenance), doing HVACR commercial and residential work," Tankersley said. "The possibilities are endless with this degree, and I am looking forward to new challenges."
"Besides finishing off my degree, I also wanted to be brought up to speed on the new advancements in the parts of the industry that I have not been involved in." Gerald McClelland of Abington, Mass., a director of facilities management for the commonwealth of Massachusetts, said the degreed program has helped him with the new challenges of energy management. "I have completed HVAC engineering technology courses in the online format that will help with energy management strategies of commercial and industrial buildings along with the designing of HVAC components that will serve these facilities as well," he said. "Creating the most energy-efficient HVAC system is by far and away the most important issue the industry faces today, and this degree program faces these challenges head on." Former Ferris State online student Robert Hembree of Johnson Controls, Tulsa, Okla., jokingly said the program has made him instantly smarter. "I believe it gives me more credibility with customers and co-workers," he said.
Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education (weight: 2)
For universities and colleges, online education provides the opportunity to serve more students who desire an education. This influx of students is typically seen as encouraging, because although there are additional demands placed on the technological systems of the organization (e.g., computing networks, new hardware and software), there is no corresponding demand for increased physical space associated with on-site students. This may result in increased revenue from tuition with the increased expenses related to technology supported by the new student body.
Faculty frequently express apprehension regarding online education because of the technological problems associated with delivering the material, which may lead to student frustration and poor student evaluations. Faculty have also indicated concerns over the technological competence of students and their ability to use advanced synchronous online tools (Perreault, Waldman, Alexander, & Zhao, 2002).
Some IT TRAINING Remains Traditional (weight: 2)
With only seven people in the class, there was ample opportunity to get hands-on practice under an instructor's supervision. Yes, he did pass the certification exam for Linux. "They teach students what you're expected to know in the real world," he says. "It's not focused on passing a test."
"Entry-level employees in IT don't have the competence to do the job," says Graham Doxey, the university's president. "Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have demonstrated that they're very smart people. They know how to write code, and they know how technology works, but they don't know how to solve problems when working with customers." Initially Neumont students work on a simulated project during their first quarter. Then they move on to work directly with faculty on actual client projects that faculty handle as consultants outside of their teaching responsibilities.
is virtual a virtue in scholarship? (weight: 2)
There is recognition that synthesising information continues to be a difficult task, especially when online sources can vary so widely. "Better education in information literacy is the key," says Webber, "Actually teaching students will help them understand why some behaviour is better, rather than giving them a set of rules to follow."
Webber believes that teaching students how to understand information requires a holistic approach. Information literacy essentially entails people recognising their information needs, understanding when and what kind of information they need. "It encompasses knowing what to do with information once you have got it," Webber says. "A big challenge relates to people who aren't already convinced of the value of information literacy and persuading them it needs more investment.
Fraud Factories (weight: 2)
The Oregon Student Assistance Commission's Office of Degree Authorization.
The Oregon Student Assistance Commission's Office of Degree Authorization maintains a list of organizations it has identified as diploma mills at www.osac.state.or.us/oda. Another way to check up on a school is to call the registrar of a local college or university and ask if it would accept transfer credits from the school you are researching.
Space for thought encourages a richer vocalisation of ideas ONLINE CASE STUDY TEACHING: Sarah Murray on how a classroom-based tutorial method is benefiting from the web; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 1)
In the case study method of teaching as developed by Harvard Business School, MBA students read up on a business case and, once in the class, thrash out alternative solutions to a commercial or organisational problem with the professor directing the discussions. Some of this experience is certainly hard to replicate online.
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 1)
Lyn Jakimchuk is a University of Victoria continuing education student. After completing a teaching degree and working as an elementary school teacher for four years, Jakimchuk realized that she wanted to explore other options.
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 1)
The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' online university offers members and potential members access to the latest in logistics and supply chain management. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) provides certification programs, seminars, professional development services and online courses for the supply management professional. (The listings section following this article gives more information on the associations offerings.) How are supply chain people reacting to expanded educational opportunities? Burt Blanchard, CSCMP's manager of education and research, says demand for those offerings is high right now thanks to the constantly-changing nature of the supply chain profession. He sees customer service, collaboration, financial skills, and performance management as the skill sets that practitioners and students need to work on developing right now. "These are the areas that companies are really looking at, and that they expect their supply chain professionals to be able to handle," says Blanchard.
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 1)
The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' (CSCMP) online university offers members and potential members access to the latest in logistics and supply chain management. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) provides certification programs, seminars, professional development services and online courses for the supply management professional. (The listings section following this article gives more information on the associations offerings.) How are supply chain people reacting to expanded educational opportunities? Burt Blanchard, CSCMP's manager of education and research, says demand for those offerings is high right now thanks to the constantly-changing nature of the supply chain profession. He sees customer service, collaboration, financial skills, and performance management as the skill sets that practitioners and students need to work on developing right now. "These are the areas that companies are really looking at, and that they expect their supply chain professionals to be able to handle," says Blanchard.
Anaheim University; Anaheim University Answering Worldwide Call for English Teachers (weight: 1)
Over the past 6 months our TESOL student body has quadrupled with aspiring teachers ready to teach abroad in places like Asia, South America and Europe. The Online TESOL Certificate provides an excellent stepping stone into the field of English Language Teaching, while those who have set their sights on making teaching a career at the college and university level can earn the MA in TESOL online in two years.
Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience (weight: 1)
At the conclusion of each of the four parts of the text, readers find a skillsset package made available for student practice. This makes it relatively easy for students learning about the leadership process to link their readings and assignments to each of the three aspects of the learning model developed for the text.
Online Education for Lifelong Learning: An interview with author Yukiko Inoue (weight: 1)
Question: Today's students have different expectations and learning styles than previous generations. Answer: The students of this generation value their ability to use the Web to create a self-paced, customized, on-demand learning path, which includes multiple forms of interactive, social, and self-publishing media tools. Question: It's been said that education is guiding students on an inner journey toward more truthful ways of seeing and being in the world. Briefly explain this. Answer: It means that students must be directly involved in guiding and understanding their own journeys in their process of learning and understanding. Answer: It will be the constant development of new technologies. In the current context, however, humans choose to define new technologies as those that have emerged most recently, as various forms of digital ICT have converged and continue to converge.
A call to arms (weight: 1)
The industry needs to expand efforts to tell high school and college students about the opportunities in the maritime industry and the excitement of working at the cutting edge of global market trends and international commerce. "We have to start hosting career days, go into the high schools and tell them about the maritime industry," Nagel said. "It will take time and dedication, but that's what we need."
Get to the Next Level Online (weight: 1)
A former Marine, Lawson is now a recruiter for the Transportation security Administration. He is based at Dulles Airport, outside Washington, D.C, and is pursuing his bachelor's degree in emergency and disaster management, with a concentration in homeland security. He says many of his professors continue their work in the homeland security arena and bring that knowledge to the classroom. That has been especially helpful when the class reviews and analyzes FEMA's National Incident Management System. "They're not caught behind the walls of academia." Lawson also says his fellow students add to that knowledge. His courses include a mix of those in law enforcement, military, customs and more. "They offer perspectives that I can apply to my job," Lawson said.
What Can Training Do for Brown? (weight: 1)
Almost immediately, students experience the demands of the job. "We need to enhance their skills immediately because if a new driver is not performing efficientiy, then the other drivers have to pick up the slack so we can meet our performance and delivery goals," Jones says. "That puts a lot of added pressure and stress on our experienced drivers."
IBM goes the distance for its key Indian staff; An online programme is allowing the computer giant to enhance its talent pool, writes Rebecca Knight (weight: 1)
The IBM India programme is targeted "at a fairly senior band of employees," says Prof Zack. "It's tailored to the company's emerging senior management. These are students who have significant work and managerial experience. They are highly motivated and know how to manage their time." The course of study is the same case-based curriculum as Northeastern's traditional part-time MBA. Students meet their professors in virtual office hours each week in real time but the bulk of interaction takes place via email, conference calls and blog postings. Prof Moore says the programme keeps CBA's faculty on their toes. "They're learning lots of things from their students and staying on the cutting edge of what's going on at IBM." It is not easy juggling working full time at IBM with a demanding online MBA programme through Northeastern University College of Business Administration in the U.S. But Hironmoy Ghosh is already applying lessons from his classes to his job. An early course about organisational behaviour, for instance, helped him better understand his team's dynamics and his employees' work styles; a class on corporate ethics helped him steer "the culture down to direct reports"; and a course on finance - Mr Ghosh works in operations - helped him understand "the various cost metrics the company is driving". "It gives me the perfect opportunity to practice what is in the book and find out in real time if it actually works - and then the chance to correct it, and better it, through the interaction with others in the group," says Mr Ghosh, a student based in Pune.
ONLINE EDUCATION (24 documents)
Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education (weight: 28)
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 19)
On the Effects of the Application of the Business Strategy to Public Colleges of Higher Education (weight: 18)
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 15)
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 7)
An Empirical Investigation of Virtual Interaction in Supporting Learning (weight: 5)
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 4)
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice (weight: 4)
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 4)
Quasi-Facial Communication for Online Learning Using 3D Modeling Techniques (weight: 3)
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 2)
Anaheim University; Anaheim University Answering Worldwide Call for English Teachers (weight: 2)
Online Education for Lifelong Learning: An interview with author Yukiko Inoue (weight: 2)
A New direction For Executive Education? (weight: 2)
Brick walls to distance-teaching in the east may soon crumble ASIAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS: Unexpected costs and complexities have stalled web progress, reports William Barnes; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 1)
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 1)
Watchdog goes online to boost consumer skills (weight: 1)
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta; New Picture of Personal Finances Shows, in Case of Emergency, Two in Three ''Household CFOs'' Are at Risk (weight: 1)
MarketWatch: Tool Up for Midcareer Job Hunt (weight: 1)
Sun Media Group; Major Media Partners in Maine Launch a New Online Tool for Finding a Job and Employer Recruitment (weight: 1)
E-learning: your flexible development friend? (weight: 1)
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 1)
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 1)
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 1)
Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education (weight: 28)
Washington: Jul/Aug 2008. Abstract (Summary) The authors surveyed faculty from a college of business and a college of education regarding their attitudes toward online education.
Results of the survey were examined to determine the degree to which the technology acceptance model was able to adequately explain faculty acceptance of online education.
Results indicate that perceived usefulness is a strong indicator of faculty acceptance; however, perceived ease of use offers little additional predictive power beyond that contributed by perceived usefulness of online education technology.
ABSTRACT. The authors surveyed faculty from a college of business and a college of education regarding their attitudes toward online education.
Results of the survey were examined to determine the degree to which the technology acceptance model was able to adequately explain faculty acceptance of online education.
Employees tasked with using new technologies seldom wholeheartedly welcome the organizational changes associated with them. Online education embodies a shift away from traditional, classroom-based teaching activities typically associated with university education toward a technological realm where teaching requires the use of computers equipped with specialized course software systems, both synchronous and asynchronous computer applications, and the frequent frustrations associated with dependence on the Internet.
Online education represents a dramatic step for universities- one that may be characterized as analogous to many organizations' technology- based change initiatives. As in other organizations, university administrators frequently view these technological changes as being a requirement for providing one's product or service on demand, reaching a broader demographic, and sustaining one's competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive market. Despite the perceived necessity of new and sophisticated technology, the end users of such technology may not readily embrace such tools. Our study examines the degree to which the technology acceptance model (TAM; Davis, 1989) explains the acceptance of new technology, operationalized as online education, by faculty in both a college of business and a college of education at a large regional university.
Specific to online education, Cohen and Lippert (1999) commented that computer-based instruction "may be useful for skillsbased training but may not be useful for creative-thinking instruction or general management education" (p. 745). Davis' TAM (1989) has been the dominant theory associated with understanding this phenomenon and remains an important and viable tool for researchers in this arena.
University faculty represent an unusual (although not unique) population-individuals who are highly educated, accustomed to having considerable autonomy, and who frequently work in highly politicized environments. Studying technology acceptance operationalized as online education represents a distinct contribution to this research field; the technology, user group, and organizational context are all new to the technology acceptance and adoption research domain. Distance learning is a broad term that encompasses both distance education (a term commonly used in academia) and distance training (a term commonly used in industry).
We examined the acceptance of distance education as defined by Bourdeau and Bates (1997): education that is computer-based, remote, or asynchronous and supported by some instructional system.
We use the term online education to more specifically describe the nature of distance education considered herein.
For universities and colleges, online education provides the opportunity to serve more students who desire an education. This influx of students is typically seen as encouraging, because although there are additional demands placed on the technological systems of the organization (e.g., computing networks, new hardware and software), there is no corresponding demand for increased physical space associated with on-site students. This may result in increased revenue from tuition with the increased expenses related to technology supported by the new student body.
Faculty frequently express apprehension regarding online education because of the technological problems associated with delivering the material, which may lead to student frustration and poor student evaluations. Faculty have also indicated concerns over the technological competence of students and their ability to use advanced synchronous online tools (Perreault, Waldman, Alexander, & Zhao, 2002).
Concerns related to student learning and outcomes persist, despite several indications that online education results in comparable, if not better, educational results. Spooner, Jordan, Algozzine, and Spooner's (1999) summary of past studies that compared cognitive factors such as amount of learning, academic performance, achievement, and examination and assignment grades in distance learning and campus courses typically reflected no differences in cognitive factors between the distance and traditional classes. With the increasing demand for online education and the need for faculty to embrace this as a viable teaching tool, user acceptance of technologically based teaching is an important issue. Drawing on earlier findings related to technology acceptance, our research extends the TAM by testing its efficacy in a distinctive population and organizational context. The defining characteristics discussed in this study are not unique to one organization or industry; therefore, we believe the findings will have far-reaching implications for many organizations engaged in change initiatives centered on technological innovation. Such insights can lead to new and innovative ways to mentor, train, and motivate technology users in diverse industries and organizations. As part of an ongoing, multiphase research endeavor examining online education and learning, faculty associated with both a college of business and a college of education from a large regional university were asked to complete an anonymous survey regarding their perceptions of online education.
Participants responded to questions measuring the central constructs of the TAM; the perceived ease of use of online education technologies and the perceived usefulness of online education.
In all instances, respondents used a 5-point Likert-type scale with scores ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much so). Both the Perceived Ease of Use Scale and the Perceived Usefulness Scale were constructed of items modified to specifically reflect online education as the technology of interest. To assess the criterion of technology acceptance, participants were asked to indicate the degree to which they agreed with a statement assessing their intention to use distance education technology in the future. This is highly consistent with previous TAM studies that have used intention to use technology as indicative of technology acceptance (Ferren, 2002; Gefen & Straub, 1997; Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003).
Table 2 presents the means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations of all variables in the model. To examine the degree to which both perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were associated with online education technology acceptance, we conducted two separate multiple regression procedures.
The first analysis included the five variables associated with the perceived usefulness of online education and the second analysis included the four variables associated with perceived ease of use of online education teaching technologies.
The perceived usefulness measures predicted self-reported intention to use distance education technology significantly over and above the perceived ease of use variables, R^sup 2^.239, F(5, 100) 12.022, p <.01, but the perceived ease of use variables did not predict significantly over and above usefulness measures, R^sup 2^.016, F(4, 100) 0.993, p.415. Based on these results, the perceived ease of use measures offer little additional predictive power beyond that contributed by knowledge of perceived usefulness of online teaching technology.
Although previous researchers have not used the TAM to examine university faculty acceptance of technology, nor online education in particular, similar results have been obtained when TAM has been used to examine technology acceptance of other highly educated persons.
Although our results offer insight into faculty acceptance of online education, additional research is warranted. We suggest that this exploratory study be replicated at other universities to allow for the comparison of results.
An obvious limitation of the current study is the use of a convenience sample; introducing additional institutions would likely increase the variance associated with types of online education systems used. Perceived ease of use varies based on individual characteristics, and is also likely to vary based on the types of technology used by a college or university and the support systems available for faculty using these centralized systems.
Next, it would be of interest to incorporate samples of faculty from other academic disciplines to compare findings with regard to the TAM. Involving faculty from different academic fields would add to understanding of the acceptance of online education. Additional research may examine possible relationships between demographic characteristics of faculty members and their acceptance of online education as a viable delivery method for higher education. Past research has indicated that both gender and age may play roles in technology usage and adoption patterns, and it would be of interest to examine whether this applies to a highly educated population such as university faculty.
I find our online education resources (course management software, etc.) to be easy to use. It is not easy for me to become more skillful in using the online education technology (reverse scored).
I find online education technology not useful for education (reverse scored).
Online education will lower my teaching effectiveness in the long run (reverse scored).
Online education is not compatible with how I teach my courses (reverse scored).
Online education is an appropriate tool for professors to use as a teaching medium.
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 19)
West Lafayette: Summer 2008. Abstract (Summary) This is the second in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE " Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: How is teaching online different from conventional teaching? By comparing these differences along several dimensions, a set of recommended practices for online teaching emerges. This article examines issues such as online course organization and planning, teaching guidelines and constraints, relationships between students and teacher, lectures versus tutorials, and assessment of student performance.
The overall objective of JISE's Online Education Forum is to examine the realities of college and university online teaching, and the processes of education using today's information technologies. The issues and insights discussed in this forum will provide educators with important tools and the understanding needed to embrace the world of online education.
The overall objective of JISE's Online Education Forum is to examine the realities of college and university online teaching, and the processes of education using today's information technologies. The issues and insights discussed in this forum will provide educators with important tools and the understanding needed to embrace the world of online education.
Keywords: Information Systems Education, Distance Education, Educational Assessment, Online Course Design, Distance Learning, Online Education.
Students and faculty are increasingly turning to online education and the Internet to supplement, or even replace, traditional approaches to classroom teaching (Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Altbach, Gumport, and Johnstone, 2001; Hanna, Glowacki-Dudka, and Conceicao-Runlee, 2000; Palloff and Pratt, 2001).
Advancements in computer and communications technologies, the Internet, and online education are attractive and powerful new tools for teaching and learning. Some say that these technologies have the potential to revolutionize higher education with increased access to educational services for students and a wider reach in the educational marketplace for academic institutions (Hollenbeck, Zinkhan, and French, 2005; Medlin, Vannoy, and Dave, 2004). While opportunities to utilize online facilities for teaching and learning have been available for years, universities have too often shown a reluctance to engage in the development and use of these technologies.
As universities move ahead with online education initiatives, the ideas presented here will help to avoid the disruptive and costly problem of numerous faculty members trying to discover for themselves how best to approach online teaching.
There are pitfalls in online education for the student and for the teacher.
Once a class is prepared, it can be offered repeatedly (even by different instructors) simply by reloading a fresh, new copy of the course into the online course management system and opening it to a new group of learners. The reusability of such courses is an important aspect of online education. It means that these courses have the potential to become valuable intellectual property (Kennedy, 2002). That value is based upon the design of the course as well as its content. This realization heightens the need to increase focus upon and attention to online course design.
Ideally, all of the online coursework offered by a given university should have one prescribed look and feel. The distinction that emerges here is that between a 'course designer' and a 'content specialist' Conventional professors perform both roles, but this will change (Bruckman, 2002; Gillette, 1999; Jones and Kelley, 2003; Porter, Griffiths, and Hedberg, 2003). Many universities are beginning to employ teams of specialists in educational technology who perform supporting roles for the online education function, such as training faculty to use course management systems or providing help desk support for online students with problems. Another new role emerging here is that of 'online course facilitator.' These individuals help faculty with online course design. They advise the faculty, who are viewed as the 'content specialists,' about design guidelines and standards to be used for their online courses.
The objective is to utilize the skills and experience of the online course facilitators to help the teachers develop courses that are consistent with the best current practices for online education.
Administrators or other faculty with access to the system can review any online course at any time and evaluate any aspect of it. The adoption of this technology poses some serious new realities and constraints on how professors operate. There is a loss of control in course design and a potential visibility to outsiders that will ultimately make many in the professorate uneasy with online education, even after they learn to manage the technology (Allen and Seaman, 2003; Schell, 2004). How to implement online education in the face of these realities is a complex question.
What the experienced online teacher comes to realize is that an online course is really an organized framework for what becomes mostly individual tutorials involving the teacher and each student in the class (Littleton, Phil, and Whitelock, 2004). Some students require less than others, but personal involvement is a hallmark of online education under this model.
The keys here are developing a trusting relationship with the students as much as possible and focusing objectively upon the course deliverables in the assessment process, not the students. A university education serves both as a standard of excellence in educational achievement and as a professional credential. Many of the best jobs are only open to those with appropriate university degrees. This credentialing function has important ramifications for online education.
The online educational process must be built upon principles of trust and good faith between an online teacher and students.
As long as credentialing is part of the equation, it may be difficult for online education to gain real traction with the professions that require a college education for admission.
Online education is going to become more and more mainstream. There will be increasing pressure for its acceptance as a credential on a par with traditional education.
Faculty also need a realistic view of successes and failures in an online educational environment. A degree of failure is a real possibility especially for those who are new to online teaching.
Over the longer term as an instructor gains expertise with online education, the process of teaching online becomes easier, more comfortable and rewarding.
On the Effects of the Application of the Business Strategy to Public Colleges of Higher Education (weight: 18)
Hollywood: Sep 2008. Abstract (Summary) The basic objectives of this paper are to explain the future financial squeeze of faculty members at public colleges and universities by demonstrating that there are various business forces such as online education, outsourcing, intellectual properties, and PQ that have been developed to form a business strategy aiming at reducing the future salaries of faculty members and at dismantling the tenure system in the long run. The announced basic goal behind such a business strategy is to reduce the cost of higher education.
If the tuition rates do not decline, the reduction of faculty's salaries means higher profitability for the institutions of public higher education in the short run, assuming other elements of cost are fixed. The expected cut in faculty's salaries and the dismantling of the tenure system are called the squeeze of faculty, launched by some public universities' administrators for their own vested interests, that will deteriorate the quality of public higher education and deprive many young women and men from attending public colleges and universities. This will in turn deteriorate the global competitiveness of the United States of America, because it will slow down innovations and downgrade the quality of the labor force. This business strategy will negatively affect various communities as well, because these communities will be losing revenues gradually, as online education becomes a dominant institution.
The basic objectives of this paper are to explain the future financial squeeze of faculty members at public colleges and universities by demonstrating that there are various business forces such as online education, outsourcing, intellectual properties, and PQ that have been developed to form a business strategy aiming at reducing the future salaries of faculty members and at dismantling the tenure system in the long run. The announced basic goal behind such a business strategy is to reduce the cost of higher education.
The act of raising tuition rates has become a form of warfare against students. Although loans and financial assistance can be secured to finance education, interest rates have been on the rise, which will make it very hard for students to pay their education loans in the future. This paper aims at showing the effects of the application of business strategy to public colleges of higher education, a strategy that has been used by some administrators to financially squeeze faculty members and communities. Basically, this business strategy is manifested in cutting faculty cost and reducing communities' revenues by shifting to the regime of online education. Several administrative forces designed to cut faculty cost are investigated in this paper, forces that will even lead to the dismantling of the tenure system.
Section 2 analyzes the concept of professionally qualified (PQ) instructors introduced by the AACSB as a form for providing practical knowledge, and section 3 is devoted to explain some of the problems with the intellectual property rights in online education.
Section 4 analyzes global online education and profit making through outsourcing of courses to foreign countries, and section 5 tackles the negative financial effects of online education on the community.
The practical part is to apply the theory to reality for solving problems, or formulating policies for achieving some future goals. Both of these components create a cohesive whole of knowledge which is provided by colleges to students through academic professors. Once students graduate and are employed by firms, these students will complement their knowledge with vital experience from the working place. The knowledge they carry with them will be the backbone of their future. It follows that the argument of adding practitioners in order to enhance education is very disturbing. Essentially, it means that higher education lacks the proper components of relevant education, and the latter proposition is an unrealistic and a misleading statement designed to downgrade college education for other purposes. It may also mean that some colleges, those that do not offer the applied aspects of science, are out of touch with reality.
The introduction of the PQF concept will downgrade the quality of college education. Those practical professionals working in insurance, finance, management, marketing, and the like must have high quality credentials to teach and practice their fields in business colleges, because having practical knowledge does not necessarily mean knowing the scientific component of the field. A basketball player who is not knowledgeable in physics may shoot the ball in a trajectory to score points, but she cannot teach physics.
Let us assume that the cost is 1000. Under this condition, the profit of the course is 19000, and the rate of surplus value is (19000/1000)(100), or 1900 percent. Therefore, global online education generates more profits for the university, and the quality of the course is very high.
The profit motive has provided greater incentives for many universities to deliver online education. The misuse of this type of education will reduce the quality of education, as these online courses are taught by faculty members who are not of high quality.
In either case, the online education will increase profitability and reduce faculty salaries.
I would like to use a small university of about 4800 students as a special case to analyze the effects of online education on the community, and the analysis can be applied to any college offering online education.
The online education has been a very important source for increasing the enrollment for several colleges and universities.
Online education compensates for the decline in enrollment, and in other cases it enforces the rise in the enrollment. For my case, this source has been assumed as a compensatory source for the decline in enrollment.
For simplicity, I am assuming that the online education is as good as the offline education.
Let us investigate the negative effects of online education on the local community where the university is located and on the university itself, by assuming that the online enrollment is 2000 students.
Think about a situation where all 4000 students chose to have online education. The local community will be losing 43.2 million a year, but the university will receive its normal revenues from the 4000 students. This revenue however may be lower because online students do not pay some fees. If one thinks deeper about this case, the situation becomes a calamity for the future of the university, because the overhead cost and other costs of many employees will be paid by the university, given there are no students on campus. This is indeed a very high total cost.
In sum, the prosperity of online education will generate negative effects on the future existence of the university.
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 15)
West Lafayette: Fall 2008. Abstract (Summary) This is the third in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE " Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: What approaches help assure a quality online educational experience? Clearly achieving quality is the chief concern of everyone involved with online education. This article focuses on techniques for doing that, such as mastering one's course management system, standardizing course design, consistency in interactions with learners, and controlling class size. Another aspect of success here is developing a well-honed and consistent philosophy toward online teaching that will help learners understand what is expected of them and guide the teacher when unusual situations arise.
The overall objective of JISE's Online Education Forum is to examine the realities of college and university online teaching, and the processes of education using today's information technologies. The issues and insights discussed in this Forum will provide educators with important tools and the understanding needed to embrace the world of online education.
This is the third in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE "Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: What approaches help assure a quality online educational experience? Clearly achieving quality is the chief concern of everyone involved with online education. This article focuses on techniques for doing that, such as mastering one's course management system, standardizing course design, consistency in interactions with learners, and controlling class size. Another aspect of success here is developing a well-honed and consistent philosophy toward online teaching that will help learners understand what is expected of them and guide the teacher when unusual situations arise.
The overall objective of JISE's Online Education Forum is to examine the realities of college and university online teaching, and the processes of education using today's information technologies. The issues and insights discussed in this Forum will provide educators with important tools and the understanding needed to embrace the world of online education.
Keywords: Information Systems Education, Educational Software, Online Course Design, Distance Learning, Online Education.
Many faculty and administrators struggle with the elusive issue of what it means to achieve quality in online education (Hirschheim, 2005; Porter, Griffiths, and Hedberg, 2003; Schell, 2004; Sullivan, Terpenny, and Singh, 2004). As mentioned in Part Two of this JISE Forum, the virtual classroom is unforgiving.
The software systems used for online education are genetically called course management systems (CMSs).
One does not know who is actually doing the work in an online course, or taking an online exam. Is the person enrolled perhaps paying someone else to take his or her online exam, and how would the instructor know? One way to handle this issue is to have the students physically meet at the beginning of the semester to emphasize course expectations and at the end of the semester for a final exam. Then verifying student IDs should resolve this question. If all the students are in the same geographic area, this approach may be best. The promise of online education lies in its global reach. If the students are scattered around the country (or the world), bringing them together periodically for any reason is most likely not feasible. This makes the general problem of knowing who is actually doing the work in an online course an intractable one.
Once the structure and pedagogical process of the class is established, the problem is more one of keeping the class 'fresh' and anticipating what might go wrong rather than trying to figure out how best to deliver it. Of course, learning objectives should be clearly defined, but this is actually a subtle point in distance education.
From the students' perspective, the volume of written documentation for an online course is not easily interpreted. It is a lot of material, and it is difficult to tell what is important, especially if the student is new to the process of online education. It is easy for a student to misunderstand and, because a lot of the work done in an online course is done remotely, the student is often behind schedule and sometimes working very hard on the wrong things, before a misunderstanding can be discovered.
The instructor feels that the student must do what everyone else has done to get credit for the course; and the student feels misled, under pressure, and discouraged for having to redo work that the teacher probably should have made clearer in the first place. There is a fundamental need in online education for the teacher to state expectations for student behaviors and performance early in the course and reiterate these expectations, reinforcing them continually, throughout the course. A key part of this is to be on the lookout for any early signs of trouble with any student, including even slight deviations from expected behavior in the course.
Large courses can certainly be taught online, but then there must necessarily be less contact with the instructor. These classes must, therefore, be much more impersonal for the students. The quality of the online educational experience for both teachers and students will suffer if online classes include too many students.
Most students will find the larger online classes too sterile and unfulfilling. Some may tolerate this, but most will probably opt out of online education in favor of the conventional classroom.
Fewer students mean less diversity of opinion as well. Bringing together students from different backgrounds and with diverse viewpoints has from its inception been a traditional strength of online education (Barth, 2004). Classes that are too small dilute this strength.
Online education allows professors to capitalize on the resources of the Internet in developing and presenting a body of knowledge to students. Guiding students through these resources in their quest to master that body of knowledge has the potential to provide a richer learning experience than that found in a conventional classroom.
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 7)
The ever-Increasing populuity of online progximi may be due to the rising number of adults who, both for personal or professional reasons, wish to earn a college degree, but are unable to relinquish their full-time jobs and attend oncampus, daytime classes. Fortunately, the technological infrastructure needed to address the growing interest in online education is readily available, thus making the availability of online courses both economical and practical (Totaro et al., 2005). This study compares the perceptions of online learning by business faculty from various disciplines, such as accounting, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing, and the perceptions of online learning by undergraduate students.
Interest in developing new online education programs, as well as strengthening existing ones, continues to increase. Questions regarding the quality of online courses - particularly as they compare with their inclass counterparts - may be of both practical and intellectual interest to academics, practitioners, and students.
Because the delivery mechanism of online courses is substantially different from traditional in-class courses, common sense might suggest that attitudes and perceptions by participants - students, faculty, staff, and administrators - in online education are integral to the success (or failure) of online courses. Insights about attitudes and perceptions of online learning participants may be useful to universities and colleges as they endeavor to design and deploy online courses at their institutions. The two groups of this study are students and faculty. Because students in online courses are the direct recipients of online courses, and because faculty are the direct contributors to such courses, developing insights about the attitudes and perceptions of participants should begin with these two groups. The roles assumed by the members of each group are presumably heterogeneous; this suggests that there may be differences in attitudes and perceptions between them. We intend to investigate these potential differences by way of analysis of survey results.
For the instructor, the first crucial step is choosing a type of instruction that is designed for the new paradigm of online learning. This is then followed by the transformation of traditional education techniques to the new methodology. Students must also change their focus when engaged in online education. The students not only need traditional printed material, such as textbooks or other reading material, but also must have access to and a working knowledge of web- based technology, including the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and bulletin boards.
The economic advantages of distributing scarce resources, geographically and temporally, to students in remote locations provide a broader market for online education.
While technological advances have made online education more readily available, concerns remain.
Business faculty perceptions of online education were the focus of a study done by Totaro et al. (2005). The results of this study suggest that business faculty view undergraduate business students as finding online learning very desirable. An interesting contrast, however, is that these faculty perceive online learning as having numerous shortcomings; these include: the lack of instructorstudent/student-student interaction; no structured classroom environment; students tend to teach themselves the course material; the difficulty of teaching quantitative courses online; and the challenges associated with administering exams online.
An Empirical Investigation of Virtual Interaction in Supporting Learning (weight: 5)
Thousands of online courses, including degree and certificate programs, are now offered by universities and corporations world-wide. Among these numerous online programs, many are taking a Web-enabled rich media presentation approach1. This approach digitally records traditional, classroom-based courses and makes them available online. Presentation information, such as a video of the presenter, PowerPoint slides, and any other accompanying graphics, are synchronized and streamed via the Internet to participants (Zhang & Nunamaker, 2003). Such a rich media presentation can easily be viewed using a Web browser with an integrated media player, such as Real Networks' RealPlayer or Microsoft Windows Media Player, among others.
Many have worked on ways to effectively add interaction to multimedia online courses. Most of these solutions require human involvement in interaction (i.e., the object interacting with the learner is a human). For instance, collaborative learning technologies such as chat rooms and discussion forums provide a good platform for learners to interact with their fellow learners, as well as their instructors (Alavi, 1994; Hiltz & Turoff, 2002).
Many existing multimedia online learning systems provide navigable course outlines to allow learners to access specific sections of a video lecture (Zhang, 2005).
Learnercontent interaction refers to learners examining and studying the course content.
Learners can often explore online learning materials by following navigational hyperlinks. The materials they discover can impact the construction of their subject knowledge. Deriving from cognitivist and constructivist principles of learning, learner-content interaction can be enhanced by the following instructional strategies: 1) facilitate maximum sensation that allows learners to attend to the content, for example using multiple modes of delivery (e.g., audio, visuals, animations, etc.) (Ally, 2004); 2) help learners to construct memory links between the new information and the existing information, such as chunking the content to prevent overload, and organizing the chunks to show their logical structures (Miller, 1956); and 3) support learner-centered learning by giving learners control of the learning agenda (Ally, 2004). These instructional strategies can be implemented using technologies such as the navigable course outlines described in the introduction section (Zhang, 2005). Such an implementation of the enhanced learner-content interaction constitutes the first type of virtual interaction discussed herein: outline-based virtual interaction. Compared to other low-interactive rich media learning environments (e.g., those that do not have navigable outlines and only allow linear playback of videos), outline-based virtual interaction allows learners to randomly access multimedia learning materials and control the learning process, and may therefore lead to better learning performance and higher learner satisfaction (Zhang et al., 2006).
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 4)
Athabasca is part of a consortium of Canadian universities that have banded together under the rubric Canadian Virtual University (CVU). They offer a wide range of online and distance education degrees, diplomas and certificates in both French and English.
Nursing programs are very popular, especially a Bachelor of Nursing degree for graduates of practical nursing programs, as is social work. Maureen MacDonald is dean of continuing studies at the University of Victoria (not a CVU participant), which is active in online and distance learning, with over 2,000 registrations a year in its continuing studies distance education programs.
Distance education courses, certificates and diplomas are perfect for people with arts or science degrees who find themselves working in the business world. They may want to know more about business administration or technology but don't necessarily want or need a full degree in business. A certificate program, with job-related skills, can really enhance their value to their employer or enable them to move around within the job market."
Lyn Jakimchuk is a University of Victoria continuing education student. After completing a teaching degree and working as an elementary school teacher for four years, Jakimchuk realized that she wanted to explore other options.
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice (weight: 4)
Bradford: 2008. Abstract (Summary) This paper describes an exploratory study in which an online learning system was used to provide an intercultural experience for pre-service education students from New Jersey and Namibia.
Pre-service education students from New Jersey and Namibia were enrolled in an online course in the fall of 2004.
The College of Education at WPUNJ is responsible for the training and preparation of pre-service teachers for careers in primary and secondary schools. Most of the students in these programs will go on to teach in primary schools in the northern New Jersey region. This region has a very diverse socio-economic status (SES) population, with schools in disadvantaged urban areas with large numbers of minority and recently immigrated English language learners from developing nations in Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, Far East, and Eastern Europe. Alone, the education students need to be prepared to work with students and families who are coming from cultural, linguistic, and racial backgrounds which may be significantly different from their own.
The Colleges of Education are responsible for training undergraduate, pre-service teachers to teach in primary and junior secondary schools as part of a three-year Basic Education Teaching Diploma (BETD) program.
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 4)
The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) measures dimensions of engagement on the basis of the widely cited Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education by Chickering and Gamson (Kuh, 2001). Though the NSSE was created for on-campus education, the Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education serves as its foundation, and the principles have been widely applied to online learning. Chickering and Erhmann (1996) published guidelines on how online education can be done in ways consistent with these principles.
Only 16% taught other students often or very often. This is in spite of the fact that the Internet and Web have removed time and place limitations to proliferate the channels for interaction and communication (Chickering & Erhmann, 1996). Central to the success of online education are active learners who proactively take charge of their learning (Hiltz & Shea, 2005). Research confirmed that such students frequently visited the online library to seek out published resources to meet class assignments.
Educators and instructors have to consciously and consistently sustain and grow the types and level of engagement in online education.
The selected dimensions of the NSSE were found to be appropriate to measure engagement in an online setting, yielding useful results. Used as a complement to in-house evaluations, these findings can aid strategic planning and accreditation selfstudies for online education providers. Subsequent research built on this first study will provide comparative scores from which norms of engagement can be established and specific targets for improvements may be set.
Quasi-Facial Communication for Online Learning Using 3D Modeling Techniques (weight: 3)
Abstract (Summary) Online interaction with 3D facial animation is an alternative way of face-to-face communication for distance education. 3D facial modeling is essential for virtual educational environments establishment. This article presents a novel 3D facial modeling solution that facilitates quasi-facial communication for online learning.
Online interaction with 3D facial animation is an alternative way of face-to-face communication for distance education. 3D facial modeling is essential for virtual educational environments establishment. This article presents a novel 3D facial modeling solution that facilitates quasi-facial communication for online learning.
In general, the use of facial modeling techniques in distance education mainly has three practical requirements.
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 2)
The university's Supply Chain Resource Cooperative also provides a wealth of educational resources.
An executive education course in Supply Chain Design and Execution for Global Markets.
Anaheim University; Anaheim University Answering Worldwide Call for English Teachers (weight: 2)
With 4,000,000 students in China alone currently studying English as a Second Language (ESL), there are approximately 20,000 new ESL Teacher jobs advertised worldwide every month, creating career opportunities for native speakers of the English language with a desire to experience living abroad. Before embarking on their journey, a rapidly growing number of teachers in training are learning the fundamentals of teaching English by becoming TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) Certified in 15 weeks online through Anaheim University, the nationally accredited online education pioneer who launched the world's first online Masters degree in TESOL taught live in real time by the world's leading linguists.
Keywords: Advertise, Advertising, Anaheim University, Asia, China, Economics, Education, Global Economy, Online Education. This article was prepared by Marketing Weekly News editors from staff and other reports.
Online Education for Lifelong Learning: An interview with author Yukiko Inoue (weight: 2)
Answer: Self-regulation is the ability to plan, monitor, and evaluate one's own learning processes and strategies. Therefore, the concept of self-regulated learning can be applied to online education for lifelong learning as well as for effective learning and cognitive strategies.
Answer: Online learning has become a common strategy to deliver instruction, enhance access to educational resources, and achieve success in higher education.
A New direction For Executive Education? (weight: 2)
We will take a closer look at new moves in certification, trends in online education and the nature of increasingly popular customized programs.
At ISM's Knowledge Center, online class offerings have been expanded to include coursework crafted with input from more than 30 organizations-such as Accenture's Supply Chain Academy-and from professional associations, industry consortia and educational institutions. "We've seen more adoption of online education," says Terri Tracey, ISM's vice president of technology and head of its Center for Strategic Supply Leadership.
Brick walls to distance-teaching in the east may soon crumble ASIAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS: Unexpected costs and complexities have stalled web progress, reports William Barnes; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 1)
Problems of quality, acceptance, price and access have overwhelmed the Asian business school fantasists who saw easy gold in distance education. The sharper schools appear to have absorbed the lesson that internet teaching is both logistically demanding and against the grain of the students' own need to test themselves out against each other.
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 1)
Because not every supply chain professional can afford the time or financial commitment needed for a degree program or a traditional online executive education course, online education has grown in popularity over the last few years. "Using technology to deliver these types of educational products is the wave of the future, and very attractive in the tight budget times we're seeing today," says Langley. "And while you miss the diversity of discussions between students, the key is to take extra steps-such as scheduling a lunch or dinner for the class to get together-to create those interactions."
Watchdog goes online to boost consumer skills (weight: 1)
Consumer watchdog the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched its first ever online education sector resource, with a consumer education toolkit for teachers. This reflects the importance that the OFT places on helping to build skills and confidence amongst consumers to support them in dealing with businesses and making purchases. The toolkit, Skilled to go, is a free online resource that uses everyday consumer situations, such as choosing a mobile phone package or shopping online, as the basis to develop consumer skills, knowledge and confidence.
Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Greater Atlanta; New Picture of Personal Finances Shows, in Case of Emergency, Two in Three ''Household CFOs'' Are at Risk (weight: 1)
The survey was conducted by Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS) of Greater Atlanta, a national credit counseling agency that has been educating consumers on money and debt management, housing, and bankruptcy and foreclosure prevention since 1964. In response to survey findings(a) and current economic conditions, CCCS is launching a national awareness campaign, "Household CFO," and enhancing its CredAbilityU online education program to offer free, easy-to-use interactive webinars and financial management tools.
MarketWatch: Tool Up for Midcareer Job Hunt (weight: 1)
Midcareer workers could help themselves find a new spot during the recession by looking for hybrid jobs, which require knowledge of more than one skill, says Betsy Richards, director of career resources at Kaplan University, an online education service. "If you can show you have multiple talents, you have a better chance of getting the job over someone who has spent their whole life being very focused," Ms. Richards says.
Sun Media Group; Major Media Partners in Maine Launch a New Online Tool for Finding a Job and Employer Recruitment (weight: 1)
MyJobWave.com has also established an online education center where job seekers can find unique and topical information regarding resume writing and networking, as well as pertinent information regarding job search and career enhancement best practices.
E-learning: your flexible development friend? (weight: 1)
The lower cost of online education also opens up a wider spectrum for personal development. That professional development course requiring time out of the office, which may have previously been withheld by an employer, now becomes possible, because it needs no time-specific attendance and is affordable. Employees can access the training materials at the most convenient time in a normal working day to suit both the business and the learner, rather than taking time out of the office for a day or more for training. As technology becomes increasingly accepted within society and developments such as webcams and haptics blur the boundaries of virtual and reality, more and more potential for online learning will be realized. It is unquestionable, in my opinion, that e-learning will form the cornerstone of learning and development in organizations in future years, helping to contribute towards attaining the skills base required in the UK for a prosperous economy.
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 1)
In the future, the position of the classroom as the defacto center of learning may change; with online education becoming a larger percentage of the total student population, lecture based instruction is not always the best solution.
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 1)
The technological infrastructure needed to address the growing interest in online education is readily available, thus making the availability of online courses both economical and practical (Totaro et al., 2005). This study compares business school administrators' perceptions of online learning and business faculty perceptions of online learning and administrator's perceptions of online learning. Business school administrators and business faculty are from various disciplines, such as accounting, economics, finance, management, management information systems, and marketing.
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 1)
We did not set up an official control group to compare the learning effectiveness of participatory exam with other forms of exam, i.e., traditional exams and collaborative exams, and thus our current study results provide only a subjective comparison. A subsequent thesis building on this study uses an experimental design (Shen, 2005). Overall, our study results demonstrate that students enjoyed their online participatory examination assessment experiences, and they have learned from all phases of the exam process including designing, reading, answering and evaluating exam questions. Compared to the traditional exams, students reported that they preferred the participatory exams. Therefore, the participatory exam was proved to be an innovative and promising online assessment method, which can benefit online education and training.
ONLINE TEACHING (17 documents)
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 27)
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 21)
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 18)
Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education (weight: 7)
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 7)
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice (weight: 3)
How valuable are online MBAs ?; [1] (weight: 2)
Anaheim University; Anaheim University Answering Worldwide Call for English Teachers (weight: 2)
is virtual a virtue in scholarship? (weight: 2)
Space for thought encourages a richer vocalisation of ideas ONLINE CASE STUDY TEACHING: Sarah Murray on how a classroom-based tutorial method is benefiting from the web; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 1)
How valuable are online MBAs ? (weight: 1)
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 1)
Distance Learning for Continuing Education (weight: 1)
Interest mining in virtual learning environments (weight: 1)
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 1)
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 1)
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 1)
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 27)
West Lafayette: Summer 2008. Abstract (Summary) This is the second in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE " Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: How is teaching online different from conventional teaching? By comparing these differences along several dimensions, a set of recommended practices for online teaching emerges. This article examines issues such as online course organization and planning, teaching guidelines and constraints, relationships between students and teacher, lectures versus tutorials, and assessment of student performance.
The overall objective of JISE's Online Education Forum is to examine the realities of college and university online teaching, and the processes of education using today's information technologies. The issues and insights discussed in this forum will provide educators with important tools and the understanding needed to embrace the world of online education.
This is the second in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE "Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: How is teaching online different from conventional teaching? By comparing these differences along several dimensions, a set of recommended practices for online teaching emerges. This article examines issues such as online course organization and planning, teaching guidelines and constraints, relationships between students and teacher, lectures versus tutorials, and assessment of student performance.
The overall objective of JISE's Online Education Forum is to examine the realities of college and university online teaching, and the processes of education using today's information technologies. The issues and insights discussed in this forum will provide educators with important tools and the understanding needed to embrace the world of online education.
Students and faculty are increasingly turning to online education and the Internet to supplement, or even replace, traditional approaches to classroom teaching (Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Altbach, Gumport, and Johnstone, 2001; Hanna, Glowacki-Dudka, and Conceicao-Runlee, 2000; Palloff and Pratt, 2001).
While pockets of expertise exist in many faculties, the entrepreneurial adoption of online teaching methods in higher education has unfortunately been limited (Fox, Anderson, and Rainie, 2005; Spellings, 2006). While some readers may find the topics presented in this paper straightforward, others who are less experienced will find them very useful.
As universities move ahead with online education initiatives, the ideas presented here will help to avoid the disruptive and costly problem of numerous faculty members trying to discover for themselves how best to approach online teaching.
Exactly who does what, when, and how it is to be done, must be concisely and clearly specified within the design constraints imposed by guidelines and systems limitations for given online teaching technologies.
Professors must be prepared to communicate differently and to assert control appropriately in an online medium. They also need to learn to cultivate and sustain relationships with their students online, which can be a time consuming, even tedious, process but which is also a critical part of online teaching effectiveness. A competent teacher could learn how to do all of this 'on the job,' but the likelihood of failing with several highly visible online classes through trial-and-error makes that idea very risky at best. This paper focuses on a comparison of online teaching and conventional teaching, resulting in a set of recommended practices.
Essentially, it deals with the mechanics of teaching online, including course organization and planning, teaching guidelines and constraints, mentoring relationships, online tutorials, assessment of student performance, and course evaluation.
The first critical step in the process of teaching online is the detailed organization and planning of the online course (Coppola, Hiltz, and Rotter, 2002; Karuppan and Karuppan, 1999). This goes beyond what one would expect to do as a teacher in a conventional course, far more than just choosing a textbook and developing a typical syllabus, for example (Chizmar and Walbert, 1999). It includes detailed planning for every individual part of a course, including developing specific objectives overall and for each instructional unit of the course, specifying reading and other assignments in detail, and describing specific deliverables.
For the most part, that works fine. This 'adjusting it as you go' approach does not work with online teaching. It will only confuse and discourage the students, and they will lose motivation. In an online course, learners need to know exactly what is expected, when deliverables are due, and how they are expected to do them (Bocchi, Eastman, and Swift, 2004). This is most easily achieved by modularizing the course into blocks of assignments and deliverables organized by topic. Call these 'units of instruction,' or 'chapters of a course,' or whatever. They are called 'units' here. Usually, it is constructive to organize an online course into such units specifying readings, assignments, and deliverables that are to be done during a specific time period, usually weekly or perhaps bi-weekly.
Careful, consistent communication of expectations and detailed course documentation at the beginning are mandatory prerequisites for effective online teaching.
For the time being, faculty must accept that there is a rising tide here that will sweep away complications and eventually float everyone's boat. Faculty members need to understand ahead of time what to expect in teaching online, what to look for, and how they are most likely to succeed (Cook, 2000; Evans, 2001; Jones and Kelley, 2003).
Structured, regular communication is a basic principle behind teaching online.
Forgetfulness is, therefore, a serious weakness in online teaching. This means the instructor must pursue a real quest for excellence in the electronic classroom by building relationships with individual students and keeping track of commitments. It is hard work teaching online, especially in the beginning when this process is unfamiliar.
The problem is that one has to press hard to overcome the impersonal nature of the machinery that makes up the online medium. Without facial expressions or body language or much human contact, these relationships can be difficult to develop at best. The online system tends to be rigid and inflexible with minimal feedback, unless the parties involved strive to overcome its limitations (Bocchi, Eastman, and Swift, 2004; Littleton, Phil, and Whitelock, 2004). Hopefully in the future, increased speed and enhanced capability of online teaching technologies to include quality video and teleconferencing will help to alleviate some of these limitations. In the meantime, the development of relationships as a mixture of mentoring and cyber pen pal can be very worthwhile and rewarding for both the individual students and the professor (Abbott, 2005; Arbaugh, 2000; Conaway, Easton, and Schmidt, 2005; Hirschheim, 2005).
With online teaching, the options for assessment are unfortunately limited (Bowman, 2003; Dhamija, Heller, and Hoffman, 1999; Grandzol, 2004).
Teaching online is an exercise in continual incremental improvements. It takes a commitment to quality (Hirschheim, 2005). A fundamental part of pursuing quality must be the development of cogent, realistic objectives for each online course, and frequent revisiting of those objectives by the professor throughout the term.
As online teaching evolves over time, the nature of online coursework will change too. Basically, quality must be couched in the ability to deliver the right course content through the technology in a manner that provides the students with what they need to master that content (Oliver, 2000).
Faculty also need a realistic view of successes and failures in an online educational environment. A degree of failure is a real possibility especially for those who are new to online teaching.
And, if a course does not turn out as intended, a professor certainly has other options, namely to return to the conventional classroom and forget about teaching online.
Conventional teaching is a calling and a craft that one grows and develops, and teaching online is the same.
Teaching online is very complex. It is complicated by the need to adapt what has been a highly social process, that of educating students in a traditional school and classroom setting, to an online computerized setting with limited social interaction. The biggest challenge for online educators is to make this adaptation work effectively. When a teacher first contemplates teaching online, it is very attractive to focus on the obvious flexibility that online teaching provides, such as not having to be in a classroom at scheduled times during each week or not even needing to come to campus to teach.
The uninitiated often think that teaching online will be much easier than teaching in the conventional classroom setting. That is a very dangerous point of view to bring into the online classroom.
Over the longer term as an instructor gains expertise with online education, the process of teaching online becomes easier, more comfortable and rewarding.
With preparation and practice, teaching online can be a very effective medium for higher education. The key question becomes how best to achieve quality education in the online classroom, which is the subject of the next article in this series.
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 21)
West Lafayette: Fall 2008. Abstract (Summary) This is the third in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE " Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: What approaches help assure a quality online educational experience? Clearly achieving quality is the chief concern of everyone involved with online education. This article focuses on techniques for doing that, such as mastering one's course management system, standardizing course design, consistency in interactions with learners, and controlling class size. Another aspect of success here is developing a well-honed and consistent philosophy toward online teaching that will help learners understand what is expected of them and guide the teacher when unusual situations arise.
The overall objective of JISE's Online Education Forum is to examine the realities of college and university online teaching, and the processes of education using today's information technologies. The issues and insights discussed in this Forum will provide educators with important tools and the understanding needed to embrace the world of online education.
This is the third in a series of three papers about online pedagogy and educational practice as part of the JISE "Online Education Forum." This paper deals with the question: What approaches help assure a quality online educational experience? Clearly achieving quality is the chief concern of everyone involved with online education. This article focuses on techniques for doing that, such as mastering one's course management system, standardizing course design, consistency in interactions with learners, and controlling class size. Another aspect of success here is developing a well-honed and consistent philosophy toward online teaching that will help learners understand what is expected of them and guide the teacher when unusual situations arise.
The overall objective of JISE's Online Education Forum is to examine the realities of college and university online teaching, and the processes of education using today's information technologies. The issues and insights discussed in this Forum will provide educators with important tools and the understanding needed to embrace the world of online education.
Interacting in a consistent manner with students in an online environment is another important aspect of teaching effectively online. It is difficult to interpret intent through the technology, and inconsistency by the teacher confuses and upsets the students and creates a negative, counterproductive teaching environment.
If an online class is too big, then the professor simply cannot interact with the students at the level necessary to assure a quality learning situation. While many of these challenges for educators exist in any teaching situation, they tend to be especially serious threats to success in online teaching.
For the faculty member, developing a personal profile provides the first real opportunity to set the tone for the course with students, because students naturally go to the professor's profile first. In addition to providing a summary of the instructor's educational background and experience in teaching online, a profile gives the teacher a chance to describe his or her expectations and aspirations for the course and for the students taking it.
Any profile is better than nothing when trying to understand a student in a far distant seat in the cyber classroom. Is this student an Indian in Minnesota, a soldier in Germany, a housewife in Detroit, an engineer in Texas, or maybe a banker in Panama? Where did this student study before? What are his or her interests? Importantly, a good set of profiles helps to facilitate understanding among teachers and students within an online teaching and learning community, as well as improving interaction and collaborative learning among students (Mabrito, 2001).
The speed and capabilities of new generations of networking are making it possible to include inexpensive, quality video in educational software. This capability will revolutionize online teaching once again by adding an important new dimension to course management systems for professors to utilize. Students post answers to the discussion questions during one week and instructors critique their responses, usually a week later after the deadline for that week has passed and all students have finished posting. Professors should also post their own answers to the discussion questions to help students learn as part of this weekly process of critiquing. All students can see all of these postings. This is all very time-consuming, but it is at the heart of the online teaching process and instructors should certainly do it systematically, consistently, and on a timely basis (Arbaugh, 2001).
Discussion questions are open-ended. They are loaded into a part of the CMS that employs a threaded bulletin board type of software (called the 'discussion board' or 'course room') where students can append (or post) their answers for each question online. This is all done asynchronously; students can post answers at different times, and even change them if they choose, until the assignment deadlines. The number and nature of these discussion questions varies depending upon the preferences of the instructor and the nature of the course. Some choose, for example, a larger number of short answer essay questions while others (especially those teaching graduate students online) prefer one or two significant essay questions that seriously challenge the students' critical thinking about the assignments (Greenlaw and DePoach, 2002). Students are encouraged to write and post their answers online before looking at the postings of other students, although every student can see the postings that have been made by every other student once posted. Part of the requirements for each week's work should be that students read and consider the postings of other students and the instructor's responses to them as part of the learning process in the course room. This is analogous to listening to class discussions in a conventional classroom.
Concise timeframes, clear assignments, specific deliverables, and unambiguous due dates are essential to provide the sense of understanding and control that will foster an effective online learning environment and make it possible for students to feel comfortable and motivated. An individual professor preparing an online course first focuses on thorough planning, but a key part of that is his or her philosophical view of online teaching. What should an online course be and do? What is the vision and how should teaching online really work? What should be done versus what can or cannot be done? These are basic questions with which every online instructor must grapple, first in designing online coursework and then again more pointedly when teaching the course.
The instructor must be very clear about the levels of online interaction required of students, as well. Whatever the instructor decides, it should be planned in detail and explained to the students early in the course so that they know what they are to do and how their work will ultimately be evaluated. Part of being successful in teaching online is gaining enough experience so that potential problems can be recognized and averted before they become serious. One of the most difficult of these situations is when an online student simply disappears. He or she stops posting or otherwise participating in the course. The student does not answer emails, or perhaps his or her email does not work anymore.
Teaching online really forces an instructor to plan ahead in much more detail than one might expect (Evans, 2001).
Aspiring to excellence means that online courses must be planned, documented, and finalized before the first online class sessions. Many who teach both in the conventional setting and online agree that their experience with planning for online classes has actually improved their conventional teaching because it has heightened their awareness of the value of better planning in teaching (Abbott, 2005).
Feedback and support from the teacher are critical for learners in an online course situation. Students are isolated and they are engaging in what is inherently the very human process of learning by interacting with essentially dehumanizing machinery. It can be a daunting task, really, and the only dependable lifeline comes from the professor. This is a key issue and it is the reason that teaching online is so different from teaching in the conventional classroom.
Guiding the students, communicating about the subject matter, fostering collaborative learning, and managing student expectation about the course on every level are the hallmarks of excellent online teaching (Hiltz and Turoff, 2002; Mabrito, 2001).
In some ways, online teaching is like conducting a large, ongoing tutorial.
The student, of course, receives what is said with finality. Such questions tend to be spread out over longer periods of time, which may make the answers given earlier more difficult to remember for the teacher. Questions tend to be more random and 'out of the blue.' Students ask about a range of different topics and issues in a course, jumping around from topic to topic because they are operating independently. There is very little continuity here because these communications tend to be disjoint. Online instructors can be trapped, if they are not wary. Students will quickly decide that the teacher is incompetent and does not really know what he or she wants if they recognize problems here. It is critical for the online teacher to keep track of directives given to individual students and make sure that responses are consistent and repeated for everyone in the class. It is also too easy in this situation to promise a student something and then fail to follow up. Teaching online is difficult enough without having students who are disillusioned because the teacher has been inconsistent with them or failed to keep a promise that was made.
Students can evaporate and disappear from an online course if the teacher allows that to happen. Other students will certainly notice that disappearance. They will want to know where a missing student has gone. To ensure continuity, the class can be reassured if the teacher can relate that there is an unusual situation, without disclosing the actual problem, and that the student is really not missing and other arrangements are being made for him or her to finish the course. Quality online teaching requires extensive interaction between the teacher and his or her students. This interaction demands a commitment of the teacher's time, so the number of students in an online course has a significant impact on the level of interaction that is possible.
Quality of the online teaching and learning experience would suffer dramatically.
A well structured and documented course with clearly specified requirements and expectations gives students the confidence and grasp to engage actively in the online course setting. A teacher that is communicating with students regularly and showing both enthusiasm for the course material and for the online teaching process, and helping them learn, greatly increases the motivation of the students to perform.
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 18)
Hollywood: Mar 2008. Abstract (Summary) This article is directed to teachers who are making preparations to teach online courses. It discusses the need to re-learn teaching techniques as one makes the transition from teaching in a classroom to teaching through a computer. The examples are largely from experiences the authors had in designing their own online courses. The literature on online learning includes many articles on technical issues, course design, and studies comparing online and traditional courses with regard to such things as learning effectiveness and student preference.
Little coverage of the challenge to professors to re-learn how to teach is available. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in the literature and to highlight the areas in which traditional teaching will be challenged.
This article is directed to teachers who are making preparations to teach online courses. It discusses the need to re-learn teaching techniques as one makes the transition from teaching in a classroom to teaching through a computer. The examples are largely from experiences the authors had in designing their own online courses. The literature on online learning includes many articles on technical issues, course design, and studies comparing online and traditional courses with regard to such things as learning effectiveness and student preference.
Traditional professors are finding it difficult to make the transition to online teaching.
One topic area is the comparison of online teaching with traditional teaching. Most research finds that learning effectiveness is much the same in both styles. One study compared exam scores of students from both types of class and found little difference (Anstine, 2005).
The results of another study showed "technology does enhance student learning (Krentler and Willis-Flurry, 2005)." Another area of research is the new technology required for teaching online.
In traditional teaching of an international business course, lectures are the main vehicle for transmitting knowledge from teacher to student.
What happens in a totally online course where there are no lectures or opportunities for the student to be constantly using the foreign language? What happens in a hybrid course where a professor has half the class time to deliver lectures and half the time to communicate in the foreign language with students? Online teaching uses different ways of learning.
There were fewer class discussions, cases, in-class exercises, student reports, and videos. This was a less enriched version of a traditional course. At first students received hybrid courses well because they were required to attend school only half the time. After comparing notes with students in traditional courses, they began to see that they were receiving a diluted version of a regular course. Of course, the author felt this way, as well. It became apparent that the new teaching tool of online learning required very specific training.
When lectures disappear in the transition to online teaching, how does the professor transmit knowledge? When Spanish language courses that have depended on much verbal interaction are taught online, teachers can not hear the students speak on a daily basis, how can teachers teach? How does the professor motivate students to study? Some professors look for a substitute for lecturing. They make audio or video tapes of their lectures. Most professors do not like to tape their lectures and avoid this approach. Those who do use them find that something is lost in the transition to the two-dimensional electronic medium.
The third part of the new tool of course design is learning new technical skills. Faculty new to online teaching have to learn how to deliver their course material using technology. Some schools offer training and support to faculty; at Simon Fraser University's new technology school, they designed a course just for new online faculty. "All faculty are required to take a one-semester course called Mastering Educational Technology and Learning (METL) to help them gain a better understanding for the what's and the how's of our approach" to online teaching (Leacock 2005). Other schools have online seminars and assistants to help faculty. Administration can lend support by giving adequate time and resources to faculty as they develop their online skills.
In classroom teaching, tests are usually the major tool for evaluating student learning.
A short case can be assigned with questions that are machine graded or graded by a teaching assistant. It could be something simple, like fill-in-the-blanks, or matching, or multiple choice, easily graded by machine.
New Online Teaching Techniques. It is recommended to use the full power of the computer as a tool for grading.
Require students to submit work in a specific format that is easily graded. They can submit work on forms, with blank spaces. They can be taught to use only certain words. Then their answers or papers can be machine graded or graded by a teaching assistant.
In traditional teaching, one may spend 60-70% of course preparation time on creating lectures. It may be that 10-20% of the time is spent on creating other class activities, leaving 10-20% of the time for grading student work. These are just general measurements and do not cover the full array of college courses.
There are two issues regarding time when teachers start teaching online. One is the proportion of time that is spent on teaching tasks; 'the overall preparation time for a distance learning course can be much greater than for a classroom-based one (Levitch and Milheim, 2003)."
New Online Teaching Techniques. Instructors have recognized the value of having students connect with each other to support each other; they now try to build learning communities.
Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education (weight: 7)
Employees tasked with using new technologies seldom wholeheartedly welcome the organizational changes associated with them. Online education embodies a shift away from traditional, classroom-based teaching activities typically associated with university education toward a technological realm where teaching requires the use of computers equipped with specialized course software systems, both synchronous and asynchronous computer applications, and the frequent frustrations associated with dependence on the Internet.
Concerns related to student learning and outcomes persist, despite several indications that online education results in comparable, if not better, educational results. Spooner, Jordan, Algozzine, and Spooner's (1999) summary of past studies that compared cognitive factors such as amount of learning, academic performance, achievement, and examination and assignment grades in distance learning and campus courses typically reflected no differences in cognitive factors between the distance and traditional classes. With the increasing demand for online education and the need for faculty to embrace this as a viable teaching tool, user acceptance of technologically based teaching is an important issue. Drawing on earlier findings related to technology acceptance, our research extends the TAM by testing its efficacy in a distinctive population and organizational context. The defining characteristics discussed in this study are not unique to one organization or industry; therefore, we believe the findings will have far-reaching implications for many organizations engaged in change initiatives centered on technological innovation. Such insights can lead to new and innovative ways to mentor, train, and motivate technology users in diverse industries and organizations. As part of an ongoing, multiphase research endeavor examining online education and learning, faculty associated with both a college of business and a college of education from a large regional university were asked to complete an anonymous survey regarding their perceptions of online education.
The average age of faculty participants was 48 years, with an average of 12.3 years teaching at the university level and an average of 2.1 years teaching online.
Approximately 28% of participants reported teaching undergraduate courses online, and 49% reported teaching graduate courses online.
The first analysis included the five variables associated with the perceived usefulness of online education and the second analysis included the four variables associated with perceived ease of use of online education teaching technologies.
The perceived usefulness measures predicted self-reported intention to use distance education technology significantly over and above the perceived ease of use variables, R^sup 2^.239, F(5, 100) 12.022, p <.01, but the perceived ease of use variables did not predict significantly over and above usefulness measures, R^sup 2^.016, F(4, 100) 0.993, p.415. Based on these results, the perceived ease of use measures offer little additional predictive power beyond that contributed by knowledge of perceived usefulness of online teaching technology.
Online education will lower my teaching effectiveness in the long run (reverse scored).
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 7)
Comparison of the results from each group showed that a number of differences in perception exist, due, perhaps, to the heterogeneous points of view and motivations for online learning between faculty and students. Since many universities are still deciding the extent of their offerings of such courses, this information may be helpful to university administrators in deciding which types of courses at their universities might be offered online. Faculty who are considering teaching one or more online courses may find the results of this study helpful in structuring these online offerings. The results of this study should assist students in gaining a realistic expectation of what to anticipate from online learning courses based on information we have found and studies we have done. It is important that students have a realistic perception of the online learning experience.
The present study attempts to bridge the two by comparing attitudes about and perceptions of online learning between students and faculty. The results of this study should be of interest to university administrators, faculty members, and students who plan to offer, teach, or take online courses in the future. Since many universities are still deciding the extent of their offerings of such courses, this information may be helpful to university administrators in deciding which types of courses at their universities might be offered online. Faculty who are considering teaching one or more online courses may find the results of this study helpful in structuring these online offerings. The results of this study should assist students in gaining a realistic expectation of what to anticipate from online learning courses based on information we have found and studies we have done. It is important that students have a realistic perception of the online learning experience. The increasing demand by students to acquire an education at times and locations that are convenient, given their busy schedules and personal commitments, makes online learning attractive to working students (Roberts, 1998). Technological advances have made the availability of online learning both economical and practical.
Myers et al. (2004) examined the motivation by faculty to teach online learning classes. The results of their study suggest that faculty are interested in teaching online learning classes, mostly for purposes of updating their curriculum vitae and for learning new teaching skills. Younger and less experienced faculty members are more likely to embrace online learning than their older and more experienced counterparts. Another study, which compared the attitudes of (nonbusiness) instructors and students at several community colleges, revealed an interesting dichotomy in terms of points- of- view (Inman, Kerwin, and Mayes, 1999). Specifically, in this study, the instructors rated the quality of their online courses as equal to or lower than their traditional counterparts, whereas the students felt deeply satisfied with their online experiences. The same study also examined student and instructor attitudes, an objective of which was to develop a regression equation that might be used to predict three dependent variables: instructor ratings, course ratings, and amount learned by students. In contrast to the study done by Inman Kerwin, and Mayes (1999), our study compares the attitudes of both students and faculty toward online learning, with the objective of indentifying similarities and differences between them.
The decision to use a random sample of faculty members throughout the United States as opposed to using only one or two institutions was to gain insight from a diversity of attitudes and perceptions from many different faculty members and many different institutions. In order to assure anonymity, no effort was made to group respondents by respondent or by their institutions. This modified instrument contained demographic questions on gender, rank, years of teaching experience, employment status, tenure status, and whether or not the faculty member had ever taught an online course.
The average number of years of college teaching experience for all faculty respondents was 18.6 years. When asked if they had ever taught an online course, slightly less than 31 percent of the faculty respondents answered in the affirmative. Of this group, the top two disciplines which had been taught online were accounting and finance, closely followed by marketing. Of those respondents who had online experience, 19.2 percent had taught accounting, 19.2 percent had taught finance, while 18 percent had taught marketing online.
Note that our respondents differ significantly in age: 67% of the student respondents were below 22 years of age, while the average years of teaching experience for the faculty respondents was 18.6 years.
Faculty respondents without prior online teaching experience exhibited significantly more agreement with the statement that an advantage to students is the flexible class times associated with online classes - students with no prior online experience also agreed, but the faculty agreement level was significantly higher (Statement #1). Faculty respondents in this category felt a stronger level of agreement that meeting outside the classroom was important to them than did the students (Statement #6).
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice (weight: 3)
The following semester, spring 2005, only students from New Jersey were enrolled in the course. Online discussion postings were analyzed for both course cohorts and compared. A pre/post questionnaire of students' understanding of cross-cultural differences in general, and in teaching in particular, was also administered to both course cohorts. This paper focuses on the growth of New Jersey students' understanding of what teaching in Namibia is like and also looks to see if this led to a greater understanding of their own practice. While there was an indication that the former was achieved and a number of New Jersey students did show a deeper understanding of teaching in Namibia, this did not appear to then lead to a deeper understanding of their own teaching practice. This was an exploratory pilot study, conducted principally to see if the technology supported this type of experience for students in both developed and developing nations. While this experience will never substitute for a real, in-person, exchange program or study abroad, the technology did support a limited virtual exchange program.
The Colleges of Education are responsible for training undergraduate, pre-service teachers to teach in primary and junior secondary schools as part of a three-year Basic Education Teaching Diploma (BETD) program.
A deeper understanding of another culture is the first step towards a deeper understanding of oneself, or, in the case of educators, one's own practice. This in itself does not automatically result in greater understanding of one's own practice, or ubuntu, as described above. The New Jersey students' increased understanding of their Namibian counterparts represents greater knowledge and understanding of other cultures, which in turn represents a move towards a more complex reflective practice. From this exploratory study, we found that technology can lead to a greater understanding of another culture and since technology can assist in achieving this fundamental step towards reflection, we feel that technology can in turn assist in achieving reflective practice. One possibility is to explicitly build in a model of reflection where intercultural exchange is introduced and explain to the student teachers that one of the goals is to increase understanding of others, to identify similarities and differences, and then use this new knowledge and understanding to reflect on and improve one's own teaching practice.
How valuable are online MBAs ?; [1] (weight: 2)
The following panel of experts answered your questions about online and distance learning MBAs: Clive Holtham, professor of information management and director of Cass Learning Laboratory, Cass Business School, London; Matty Smith, director of learning and teaching services at Henley Management College; and Linda Anderson, business education editor of the Financial Times.
The challenge to the traditional teaching paradigm comes from the changing ideas around how adults learn - the move towards more learner-centric approaches to teaching. These are particularly well facilitated through the use of online technology and, with the emergence of web 2.0 we see even more synergies. In fact online technology is increasingly used for campus based course as well as those delivered at a distance and so the distinctions are blurring. Indeed there are those who would argue that the traditional model of distance learning no longer exists. Clive Holtham: Matty has given a very fair answer to this good question. As she says, face-to-face business schools are increasingly using technology, but not so much to provide content as implied in the question.
Anaheim University; Anaheim University Answering Worldwide Call for English Teachers (weight: 2)
Over the past 6 months our TESOL student body has quadrupled with aspiring teachers ready to teach abroad in places like Asia, South America and Europe. The Online TESOL Certificate provides an excellent stepping stone into the field of English Language Teaching, while those who have set their sights on making teaching a career at the college and university level can earn the MA in TESOL online in two years.
The Dean of the Graduate School of Education Dr. David Nunan is former President of the world's largest language teaching organization TESOL and the world's leading author of over 100 English language teaching textbooks and journals with worldwide textbook sales exceeding 700,000,000.
is virtual a virtue in scholarship? (weight: 2)
There is recognition that synthesising information continues to be a difficult task, especially when online sources can vary so widely. "Better education in information literacy is the key," says Webber, "Actually teaching students will help them understand why some behaviour is better, rather than giving them a set of rules to follow."
Webber believes that teaching students how to understand information requires a holistic approach. Information literacy essentially entails people recognising their information needs, understanding when and what kind of information they need. "It encompasses knowing what to do with information once you have got it," Webber says. "A big challenge relates to people who aren't already convinced of the value of information literacy and persuading them it needs more investment.
Space for thought encourages a richer vocalisation of ideas ONLINE CASE STUDY TEACHING: Sarah Murray on how a classroom-based tutorial method is benefiting from the web; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 1)
"Unless the structure is put in place, that doesn't necessarily occur," says Alan Southern, deputy director of the e-learning unit with responsibility for the MBA programme at Liverpool University. He also points out that online case study teaching requires more than simply pasting the classroom study material on the web. "Online learning isn't a replica of on-campus learning," he says. "It needs a different mode of interaction between students and the instructor." Prof Pearson believes that this interaction means thinking in a different way about what is asked of the students. "You don't have the synchronised discussions that you have face to face, so you have to build richness into the way you ask the questions," she says. "And I try to ask questions that have enough substance to them to keep them engaged even when they're not able to read each other's non-verbal responses." She says, web technology means that more students can participate in a case study than would ever be possible face-to- face. "I did a programme on behalf of Thunderbird for engineers and managers from General Motors from all over the world," she says. "You couldn't get that many people together on a regular basis to go to a class from a company, because they're working all the time."
How valuable are online MBAs ? (weight: 1)
The following panel of experts are answering your questions about online and distance learning MBAs: Clive Holtham, professor of information management and director of Cass Learning Laboratory, Cass Business School, London; Matty Smith, director of learning and teaching services at Henley Management College; and Linda Anderson, business education editor of the Financial Times.
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 1)
Tamie Perryment did most of the work for her Bachelor of Arts degree between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. from the comfort of her home sofa. The Edmonton-based woman's four children were aged 4 to 10 when she began her degree, and she also part-time as a teaching assistant.
Distance Learning for Continuing Education (weight: 1)
James Tankersley, an instructor at Altamaha Technical College in Jesup, Ga., was looking to get a Bachelor's degree in HVACR technology and enrolled in the Ferris State online program. It took him 2 ½ years to complete his requirements, including a visit to the campus. "I have gained tremendous knowledge in the field of HVACR engineering and have been able to use this knowledge as an instructor, teaching students at Altamaha Technical College, as well as within my own company (Tank's Maintenance), doing HVACR commercial and residential work," Tankersley said. "The possibilities are endless with this degree, and I am looking forward to new challenges."
Interest mining in virtual learning environments (weight: 1)
Unlike traditional teaching environments, when students work in electronic environments, it is impossible for the educator to retrieve students' feedback information. Educators must look for other ways to gain this information.
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 1)
Podcasting- The use of audio files to deliver content to learners allows students to hear the instructors voice, to pick up on the subtle verbal cues that an instructor may provide, and to engage in a portable and interactive course segment (Stephen, 2005). When creating an online course environment, it is important for the course developer to consider fundamental design practices, including: understanding the context and learning environment, developing strategies to support learning such as directions and sources of information, learner assessment, and designing with active learner participation in mind (Austin & Mescia, 2001). These design principles must be fit to the topic and content of the course, beginning with the basic instructional design and continuing with good teaching practices (Austin & Mescia).
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 1)
Comparison of the results from each group showed significant differences between the administrators' and faculty perceptions of online learning on eight of eighteen statements. Since many universities are still deciding the extent of their offerings of such courses, this information may be helpful to university administrators in deciding which types of courses at their universities might be offered online. Faculty who are considering teaching one or more online courses may find the results of this study helpful in structuring these online offerings. Administrators need to be aware of the perceptions, concerns, and indeed, the anxieties of both their peers and faculty in order to enhance the likelihood that online courses will be viewed as valuable, and valued, by both constituencies. If administrators can effectively communicate the benefits perceived by their peers and faculty, while belaying the concerns of these groups, then the probability of a successful outcome will be enhanced. Online learning may not be for everyone - including both administrators and faculty - but a clearer grasp of administrator and faculty perceptions may go a long way in contributing to making the online experience a positive one for all who pursue it.
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 1)
Requiring students who are taking an asynchronous course online to travel to an examination site to take a timed examination in isolation from the rest of the class, for example, is contradictory to the pedagogical principles of effective online teaching (Alavi and Dufner, 2005). Is giving them an online quiz consisting of short answer questions, not for feedback and self-assessment but to serve as a summative measure of knowledge gained.
DISTANCE LEARNING (16 documents)
How valuable are online MBAs ?; [1] (weight: 19)
Online MBA course helps KPMG retain graduates (weight: 4)
How valuable are online MBAs ? (weight: 2)
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 2)
Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education (weight: 2)
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 2)
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 2)
Brick walls to distance-teaching in the east may soon crumble ASIAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS: Unexpected costs and complexities have stalled web progress, reports William Barnes; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 1)
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 1)
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 1)
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 1)
Quasi-Facial Communication for Online Learning Using 3D Modeling Techniques (weight: 1)
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice (weight: 1)
E-learning: The Relationship Among Learner Satisfaction, Self-efficacy, and Usefulness (weight: 1)
An Empirical Investigation of Virtual Interaction in Supporting Learning (weight: 1)
SHRM Foundation Scholarships Funded (weight: 1)
How valuable are online MBAs ?; [1] (weight: 19)
The following panel of experts answered your questions about online and distance learning MBAs: Clive Holtham, professor of information management and director of Cass Learning Laboratory, Cass Business School, London; Matty Smith, director of learning and teaching services at Henley Management College; and Linda Anderson, business education editor of the Financial Times.
Linda Anderson: Of course with online programmes the ability for networking is greatly reduced. Many distance learning providers circumvent this with study weeks when participants have the opportunity to meet and network.
With the ubiquity of the virtual world, the greater sophistication of technology platforms and the fact that in a distance learning programme there is always someone, somewhere online and available to answer questions, many students feel that distance learning allows for greater networking potential.
I think it is useful to add here the third type of approach which is the part-time MBA which is not distance learning based. Here the students are all in employment, so I do get students who have a class with me on a Tuesday and tell me the following week that they tried out an idea from class on the day after the class - this certainly is a good way to keep the lecturer on their toes.
Matty Smith: I would expect any distance learning programme using technology to be fully engaged with the use of synchronous technology by now. Asynchronous communication does still have a place since it is 'low demand' technology (uncomplicated and not bandwidth dependent) and it is a valuable tool to use in order to support deep, reflective debate between students and their tutors - which one would expect to see on a masters level programme. However there are increasing examples of the use of web meetings and social software that both support immediate connections between students but also provide insights into who everyone is.
Many distance learning programmes (e.g. Henley) also provide face-to-face support through workshops.
Linda Anderson: Isolation used to be a problem for distance learners, but, with the advent of the world wide web that is very much a thing of the past. Although many distance learning participants may only meet in the "virtual" world it is surprising how quickly they find themselves bonding.
Furthermore participants' familiarity with the internet means students are already well versed in forming online contacts. Matty Smith: They may not always realise it - but the MBA providers do. Working in distributed teams, constructively engaging with cultural diversity to achieve a shared goal, mastering communication through a variety of different tools and channels are not only seen by us as key components of the distance learning MBA process but are also recognised to be key components of effective management in the world of global commerce - they are both medium and message. Some organisations that we have worked with actually require this as part of the delivery mix because they see it as providing a specific benefit.
Linda Anderson: Recruiters have seen the many benefits of online learning and recognise the fact that in many many respects a distance learning programme relies on the same tools that employees use on a daily basis in the workplace. Virtual networking skills while studying for an MBA are just as important to the student as they are to a manager co-ordinating a virtual team in three continents. Recruiters appreciate that someone with a distance learning MBA will necessarily have these skills and would be anxious to use them. Clive Holtham: The other way of looking at this would be to ask if recruiters recognise that many of the tools needed to function effectively in a face to face business - such as presentation skills, body language, physical meetings - are also essential to securing a face to face degree? Of course they are.
Most quality distance learning programmes incorporate some face to face element.
Passwords or ID cards deal with one level whilst knowledge of previous work deals with another. Vigilance is the key in both contexts. Technology tools are used in both distance learning and face-to-face delivery to scan assessed work and to seek out instances of plagiarism.
Online learning additionally offers opportunities for innovative approaches to assessment that exclude the possibility of cheating. Matty Smith: The question makes a false assumption; a distance learning MBA does not limit networking opportunities but actually enhances them.
Linda Anderson: While the daily face-to-face element of networking is of course absent on a distance learning MBA there is nevertheless considerable virtual networking. For those whose priorities are cost and flexibility an online MBA easily compensates for the diminished face to face contact.
In many cases a distance learning MBA carries the same weight and covers identical topics as a full time programme, but is merely delivered differently. Clive Holtham: The real issue here is the standing of the Business School in their particular geographical location, or relative to their areas of specialism. I would have thought that this was more significant than the learning method. The biggest distance learning business school in the UK is the Open University and its graduates seem to me to get jobs equally well to those who have gone physically to a similar type of business school.
Matty Smith: Firstly I would suggest that the model is already proven - distance learning MBAs have been available since the mid-1980's and online elements have been added progressively since the early 1990's (before the world wide web).
The challenge to the traditional teaching paradigm comes from the changing ideas around how adults learn - the move towards more learner-centric approaches to teaching. These are particularly well facilitated through the use of online technology and, with the emergence of web 2.0 we see even more synergies. In fact online technology is increasingly used for campus based course as well as those delivered at a distance and so the distinctions are blurring. Indeed there are those who would argue that the traditional model of distance learning no longer exists. Clive Holtham: Matty has given a very fair answer to this good question. As she says, face-to-face business schools are increasingly using technology, but not so much to provide content as implied in the question.
Arguably the good face-to-face business school has taken distance learning methods to make learning more efficient, then revamped the classroom and all the other physical spaces to make learning more effective.
I am 53, have just sold my business and am looking to start a new career. I am considering a distance learning MBA. I would like to develop both my knowledge and skills with the aim of working as a consultant.
Matty Smith: Yes, there us a difference between a distance learning and online MBA in that the former is most usually delivered in what is described as a 'blended' mode - incorporating face-to-face workshops, some online interaction as well as distributed learning materials.
Online MBA course helps KPMG retain graduates (weight: 4)
KPMG, in the UK, is a strong advocate for distance learning. The professional services firm first established its relationship with Manchester Business School in the UK in 2003 when the school delivered an executive programme for its employees. Since the firm opted for a distance learning MBA in 2005, offered by Manchester Business School Worldwide, their collaboration has gone from strength to strength.
KPMG aims to retain employees for at least five years and Mr Walby says that, so far, offering MBA training as a retention tool is working well. KPMG opted for a distance learning package because of its flexibility. Mr Walby says the distance learning format is best suited to KPMG's business needs as the accountancy firm's clients expect KPMG employees to fit additional training around their working practices and business requirements. "Distance learning is an excellent concept for a more diverse workforce, especially when traditional learning is not always appropriate," he says.
MBSW was then able to deliver the firm's needs in terms of programme content and as a result of the collaboration KPMG understands the design and implementation of the programme, which blends distance learning with some face-to-face content.
One of the perennial criticisms of a distance learning programme is isolation and KPMG tries to ensure participants spend time with each other.
How valuable are online MBAs ? (weight: 2)
The following panel of experts are answering your questions about online and distance learning MBAs: Clive Holtham, professor of information management and director of Cass Learning Laboratory, Cass Business School, London; Matty Smith, director of learning and teaching services at Henley Management College; and Linda Anderson, business education editor of the Financial Times.
Distance learning MBA's undertaken through a highly rated business school carry as much weight as a non-distance learning MBA - and in many cases will carry significantly more weight than a full-time MBA from a less-well known business school. The level of sponsorship by employers suggests that they recognise and respect DL MBAs. Henley has had a long history of partnerships with organisations sponsoring DLMBAs from their organisations. Linda Anderson: I think that over the past few years distance learning programmes have come into their own. Many people who study for an MBA online have no wish to leave their job to study and indeed welcome the opportunity to apply their knowledge immediately in the work place. As many schools such as Warwick Business School, for example, offer one MBA programme via a variety of delivery methods, including distance learning, it would be incorrect to state that a distance learning MBA has less weight than a full-time programme.
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 2)
A big fan of online distance learning, Perryment says the experience was in no way isolating. The online discussions were mature, thoughtful and reflective, and the coaching (or teaching) was to a high standard, she says.
Nursing programs are very popular, especially a Bachelor of Nursing degree for graduates of practical nursing programs, as is social work. Maureen MacDonald is dean of continuing studies at the University of Victoria (not a CVU participant), which is active in online and distance learning, with over 2,000 registrations a year in its continuing studies distance education programs.
Technology Acceptance in an Academic Context: Faculty Acceptance of Online Education (weight: 2)
University faculty represent an unusual (although not unique) population-individuals who are highly educated, accustomed to having considerable autonomy, and who frequently work in highly politicized environments. Studying technology acceptance operationalized as online education represents a distinct contribution to this research field; the technology, user group, and organizational context are all new to the technology acceptance and adoption research domain. Distance learning is a broad term that encompasses both distance education (a term commonly used in academia) and distance training (a term commonly used in industry).
Concerns related to student learning and outcomes persist, despite several indications that online education results in comparable, if not better, educational results. Spooner, Jordan, Algozzine, and Spooner's (1999) summary of past studies that compared cognitive factors such as amount of learning, academic performance, achievement, and examination and assignment grades in distance learning and campus courses typically reflected no differences in cognitive factors between the distance and traditional classes. With the increasing demand for online education and the need for faculty to embrace this as a viable teaching tool, user acceptance of technologically based teaching is an important issue. Drawing on earlier findings related to technology acceptance, our research extends the TAM by testing its efficacy in a distinctive population and organizational context. The defining characteristics discussed in this study are not unique to one organization or industry; therefore, we believe the findings will have far-reaching implications for many organizations engaged in change initiatives centered on technological innovation. Such insights can lead to new and innovative ways to mentor, train, and motivate technology users in diverse industries and organizations. As part of an ongoing, multiphase research endeavor examining online education and learning, faculty associated with both a college of business and a college of education from a large regional university were asked to complete an anonymous survey regarding their perceptions of online education.
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 2)
"Tools for distance learning need to become transparent, almost invisible means to learning rather than ends in themselves (Stankiewicz, 2000)."
There are two issues regarding time when teachers start teaching online. One is the proportion of time that is spent on teaching tasks; 'the overall preparation time for a distance learning course can be much greater than for a classroom-based one (Levitch and Milheim, 2003)."
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 2)
Five participatory exam field studies have been conducted in the graduate course CIS677, Information Systems Principles, a core course for Information Systems Masters and Ph.D. students at a U.S. public research university, featuring intensive writing and reading assignments. Students from both blended (face-to-face plus online) and distance learning sections participated in weekly asynchronous (anytime, anywhere) online discussions throughout the course, as well as during the exam.
From the Fall 1999 to Summer 2002 semesters, we conducted longitudinal field studies in CIS677 distance learning and blended (face-to-face supplemented by online) sections at a U.S. public research university. 240 students participated in the participatory exam studies.
Brick walls to distance-teaching in the east may soon crumble ASIAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS: Unexpected costs and complexities have stalled web progress, reports William Barnes; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 1)
Millions of Chinese students already listen to lectures that are transmitted via television," says Chung Siu Leung, an associate professor at the Open University of Hong Kong's school of business and an expert on distance learning. "Don't forget that most Chinese students are quite comfortable with traditional, passive learning." he adds. Asia's putative Ivy League business schools may be correct when they claim that any rapid expansion of online business degrees will run the risk of an equally brisk slide in academic merit. They will also miss the point that new generations of students who live inside the internet may be delighted with a virtual business school, says Ian Fenwick, a visiting professor and consultant to Sasin Business School in Bangkok and an expert on online marketing. He adds: "Technology can change everything.
Supply Chain Education: Bracing for the Future (weight: 1)
Participants experience real-world results by learning best practices from world-leading experts in EMIL's five two-week residences (both in-person and distance learning) at key locations around the globe.
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 1)
Keywords: Information Systems Education, Educational Software, Online Course Design, Distance Learning, Online Education.
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 1)
Keywords: Information Systems Education, Distance Education, Educational Assessment, Online Course Design, Distance Learning, Online Education.
Quasi-Facial Communication for Online Learning Using 3D Modeling Techniques (weight: 1)
The application in distance learning is very encouraging for supporting a vivid online learning environment.
Chasing ubuntu: using ICTs to promote reflective practice (weight: 1)
At William Paterson University in New Jersey, one approach to helping pre-service teachers gain an understanding of another culture was through the use of online distance learning technologies. As Niki Davis (1999), Merry Merryfield (2000), and others ( Schwartz et al., 2003; Zong, 2002; Schoorman, 2002) point out, the use of such technologies to help promote intercultural understanding can also give future teachers a broader framework from which to examine their own educational ideas and beliefs.
E-learning: The Relationship Among Learner Satisfaction, Self-efficacy, and Usefulness (weight: 1)
According to Salas and Cannon-Bowers (2001), a lack of theoretical-based research will limit a researcher's ability to uncover distance learning guidelines and principles.
An Empirical Investigation of Virtual Interaction in Supporting Learning (weight: 1)
Learners can often explore online learning materials by following navigational hyperlinks. The materials they discover can impact the construction of their subject knowledge. Deriving from cognitivist and constructivist principles of learning, learner-content interaction can be enhanced by the following instructional strategies: 1) facilitate maximum sensation that allows learners to attend to the content, for example using multiple modes of delivery (e.g., audio, visuals, animations, etc.) (Ally, 2004); 2) help learners to construct memory links between the new information and the existing information, such as chunking the content to prevent overload, and organizing the chunks to show their logical structures (Miller, 1956); and 3) support learner-centered learning by giving learners control of the learning agenda (Ally, 2004). These instructional strategies can be implemented using technologies such as the navigable course outlines described in the introduction section (Zhang, 2005). Such an implementation of the enhanced learner-content interaction constitutes the first type of virtual interaction discussed herein: outline-based virtual interaction. Compared to other low-interactive rich media learning environments (e.g., those that do not have navigable outlines and only allow linear playback of videos), outline-based virtual interaction allows learners to randomly access multimedia learning materials and control the learning process, and may therefore lead to better learning performance and higher learner satisfaction (Zhang et al., 2006).
SHRM Foundation Scholarships Funded (weight: 1)
The scholarships are open to professional, general and associate members of SHRM and may be applied to online learning, distance learning, or full- or part-time programs at accredited institutions.
ONLINE CLASS (15 documents)
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 15)
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 13)
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 12)
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 9)
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 6)
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 3)
Explaining changes in learning and work practice following the adoption of online learning : a human agency perspective (weight: 2)
Ask the experts: Online MBA 2009 (weight: 1)
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 1)
Watchdog goes online to boost consumer skills (weight: 1)
New Answers for E-Learning; Wikis and avatars are improving the educational experience (weight: 1)
A New direction For Executive Education? (weight: 1)
E-learning: The Relationship Among Learner Satisfaction, Self-efficacy, and Usefulness (weight: 1)
Get Value from Online Training (weight: 1)
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 1)
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 15)
If an online class is too big, then the professor simply cannot interact with the students at the level necessary to assure a quality learning situation. While many of these challenges for educators exist in any teaching situation, they tend to be especially serious threats to success in online teaching.
The discussion board is the online classroom. It is where students and professors interact and discuss course topics and issues in a chat room format. Included in the CMS are features such as digital drop boxes for assignments, online library holdings, support for video clips, support for audio conferencing, and even workgroup collaboration support software.
Included are facilities for posting biographic information about students and faculty. These profiles, which include photos, personal information, and brief resumes, provide a basis to improve personal intimacy between the various participants within an online class. Regardless of whether a university adopts a standard look and feel for online courses, each professor should do this for his or her own set of online courses.
Allowing students to post early tends to lessen the collaborative dialoging among students, especially for the better students who are often the ones posting early. These questions will come up in an online class and the instructor would be well advised to plan carefully and provide students with a detailed statement of what is expected of them at the beginning of the course. Trying to field each question as it arises during the course is problematic, especially after students have already made assumptions that they think reasonable and acted accordingly. Another fundamental issue in an online course is determining the basis for assessing student performance (Bowman, 2003; Brown and Liedholm, 2002). The instructor must plan this aspect of the course very carefully in order to be perceived by his or her students as treating students objectively, fairly, and consistently.
A teacher, for example, does not know if a term paper turned in by one student was actually written by another. In the online classroom, these kinds of problems seem to be accentuated by the distance between teacher and learner.
Aspiring to excellence means that online courses must be planned, documented, and finalized before the first online class sessions. Many who teach both in the conventional setting and online agree that their experience with planning for online classes has actually improved their conventional teaching because it has heightened their awareness of the value of better planning in teaching (Abbott, 2005).
Of course, once a teacher has taught a particular online class, it is much easier the second time around.
Be that as it may; it is an art (or a science) that every online teacher must master to be effective in the online classroom. The learning objectives also provide a touchstone for the students (and anyone from outside a course who might view it, such as administrators). Students often have a difficult time responding to the discussion questions, especially early in an online course when they are still struggling with understanding what they are supposed to do. Students are concerned about what the professor thinks is important in the readings, and they become perplexed about what to emphasize in their answers. When they ask about how to proceed here, the teacher can direct them to the list of learning objectives for the unit in question and tell them to be sure to demonstrate in their answers that they have achieved those learning objectives.
In an online class, the questions tend to be one-onone between the teacher and a student.
The instructor never really knows what is happening in the far reaches of the online classroom.
From an economic perspective, increasing the number of students in an online course increases the revenue for a university. Obviously, one can expect pressure to increase online class sizes because of this.
For a new course or a new instructor, fifteen to twenty students in an online class is probably ideal.
For an established online class with an experienced online teacher, perhaps twenty-five or maybe even thirty students would be a workable number. A class with too many students will degenerate mostly into a modern version of an old-fashioned 'correspondence course.' This really means missing out on the emerging opportunities for effective online interaction.
In an online class with a half dozen students, or even ten or so, the dialogs among learners are weaker and the overall learning experience tends to be less rich.
How would more students change the content in an online class? Clearly, there is much less time to discuss issues in the online environment with many students.
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 13)
Students and faculty are increasingly turning to online education and the Internet to supplement, or even replace, traditional approaches to classroom teaching (Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Altbach, Gumport, and Johnstone, 2001; Hanna, Glowacki-Dudka, and Conceicao-Runlee, 2000; Palloff and Pratt, 2001).
Sending a professor into an online classroom without specific guidelines for operating there can be very problematic. Some of what follows is common sense for dealing with students in any classroom setting, but these principles are amplified strongly in the online situation for several key reasons.
An online class is more like a series of individual tutorials than a normal group situation.
There is a real tendency to overload the students with work to make sure that an online course, which is potentially visible to other faculty and administrators, has a level of content and rigor equivalent to a comparable conventional course. The opposite of this is that the students can easily overestimate the level of effort that is appropriate for a given assignment and may spend much more time and energy on an assignment than intended by the instructor. Perfectly good students can 'burn out' and be lost this way. To manage these issues, a professor must take the initiative and communicate early with each student in an online class (Arbaugh, 2001). This takes a lot of effort, but it is not enough just to broadcast messages to the whole group periodically.
Everyone in the class hears the question and the answer, plus any clarification that follows. It is not so easy in an online class using asynchronous media like bulletin boards and chat rooms.
Obviously, if an instructor has a large online class, mentoring all of the learners is a daunting task. Focusing on the quality of the interaction and trying to relate to the students as individuals, instead of the quantity of contacts, can make this workable.
An instructor can schedule specific times each week to respond to students' questions and issues. This works perfectly well as long as students know in advance that that is the way the instructor primarily intends to interact with them. Many online students tend to be older, and they frequently have experiences that are relevant to the content of an online course being taught. They bring to the virtual classroom a level of practical understanding that is interesting to the other students, a 'real world' perspective that tends to be refreshing and stimulating. Some learners are very high ranking leaders in their professions and they could never afford to take the time from their work to pursue a degree in the conventional manner. Having several of these individuals in an online class can really help the dynamics of the interactions among students, particularly the dialog in the online classroom. They should be encouraged to take a leadership role. Students sometimes feel that they are learning more from interacting with fellow students than from other aspects of an online course. Interestingly, there is no real awareness in these online interactions as to anyone's race or creed or even actual physical location, unless an individual happens to mention these things directly.
All of that is irrelevant to the intellectual process that occurs in an online classroom. Students might be going through a divorce or nursing a terminally ill relative, or they themselves might be ill. Often nothing in these interactions would indicate any of that. The focus is on academics, and these other factors mostly do not even show up in the mix. A teacher gets to know his or her students very well in this environment and yet, at the same time, not necessarily well at all. It is all rather amazing, actually.
What is covered in three hours of university lecture and discussion in a conventional class setting takes a week to do in an online class. Each student completes assignments at his or her own pace and within his or her own schedule within the weekly format for typical units of work assigned.
There are two basic approaches that can be followed and a lot depends upon how many students are in a given online class (Cook, 2000). The first approach is the'sink or swim' model.
Students receive minimal teacher contact and support. Sometimes, this is all that an instructor can do, especially in a large online class. This is certainly not optimal. The second approach is the 'individual tutorial model.' If students are really to learn in an electronic classroom, then this is the approach that makes the most sense.
The uninitiated often think that teaching online will be much easier than teaching in the conventional classroom setting. That is a very dangerous point of view to bring into the online classroom.
With preparation and practice, teaching online can be a very effective medium for higher education. The key question becomes how best to achieve quality education in the online classroom, which is the subject of the next article in this series.
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 12)
Learning communities that are inevitable in the online classrooms are really communities of inquiry to advance mental thinking (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996; Conrad & Donaldson, 2004; Lorenzo & Moore, 2002). Duderstadt, Atkins, and Houweling (2002) affirmed, "When implemented through active, inquirybased learning pedagogies, online learning can stimulate students to use higher order skills such as problem solving, collaboration, and stimulation" (p. 75).
The online classroom presented challenging standards and expectations. Often, the majority of the students had to work harder than they thought they could to meet academic expectations.
Since the Internet serves as the major platform for communication in the online classroom, evaluation criteria are usually published. This makes a more explicit communication of standards and expectations to spur the student's performance to greater heights (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996).
Feedback and discussion of ideas and class materials warrant higher levels of interaction (Kuh, 2003).
Collaboration is key to promoting learning in the online classroom (Conrad & Donaldson, 2004; Weiss et al., 2000).
The online classroom has been commonly referred to as a learning community, implying the expectation that it is an environment that fosters collaborative efforts to promote learning (Barker, 2002; Benbunan-Fich, Hiltz, & Harasim, 2005; Dede, 2000).
In all, 62% of students had never made a class presentation online. Only 12% had often made online class presentations, whereas another 2% had very frequently made such presentations.
Students were fairly engaged in online class discussions through e-mails, Listservs, and chat groups.
Three quarters of the students participated in online class discussions at least sometimes. Approximately 40% were often or very often engaged in these discussions.
In the enriched environment, the learning becomes a part of the learner (Brown & Ellison, 1995). Students who accomplished an average of an A grade and students who were satisfied with their university experience reported higher levels of engagement in academic efforts and greater gains in educational outcomes. They reported considerably greater gains in academic skill development such as writing, speaking, and critical thinking. They were also more engaged in higher order levels of thinking in analysis, synthesis, making judgments, and application. These students also interacted more with the faculty and were consistently more engaged in online class discussions. They saw greater gains in their ability to work effectively with others and their capabilities to solve job-related and real-world problems. Students who were more accomplished (signified by their average grades of A or B) put in more effort to meet standards than did their counterparts. It seems an intuitive conclusion that students who were more accomplished and satisfied with their academic experience were more engaged.
The students aged 25 years and older were geared more toward higher levels of thinking than the respondents who were younger than 25 years old; the former worked harder to meet expectations, were more engaged in participation in collaborative projects, and made more contributions to online class discussions. The older students tended to center their online discussions solely on course-related matters, whereas their younger counterparts (less than 25 years old) were more engaged in online social communication.
Students' participation in online class presentations should be promoted. This can include peer evaluation.
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 9)
For instance, one study, through the application of expectancy theory, identified that, on average, students consider improving competence in performing course work as the most attractive outcome of an online learning class (Chen, Lou, and Luo, 2001).
The results of yet another study reveal that self-management, self-reliance, and accurate expectations of learner responsibilities are significant attributes for a successful online learning experience (Howland and Moore, 2002). A stark contrast to the three aforementioned studies suggests that a lack of interaction (the capacity to pose questions, share opinions, and engage in dialogue) or presence (a sense of belonging to a group) or both may result in differences in perception by students about how well they may or may not have performed in an online class (Picciano, 2002; Song et al., 2004). The issue of "social presence" and how it might impact students' perceptions of online courses and their instructors was examined by Richardson and Swan (2003). The results of their study suggested a positive correlation between the degree of social presence and perceived learning and perceived quality of the instructor.
Myers et al. (2004) examined the motivation by faculty to teach online learning classes. The results of their study suggest that faculty are interested in teaching online learning classes, mostly for purposes of updating their curriculum vitae and for learning new teaching skills. Younger and less experienced faculty members are more likely to embrace online learning than their older and more experienced counterparts. Another study, which compared the attitudes of (nonbusiness) instructors and students at several community colleges, revealed an interesting dichotomy in terms of points- of- view (Inman, Kerwin, and Mayes, 1999). Specifically, in this study, the instructors rated the quality of their online courses as equal to or lower than their traditional counterparts, whereas the students felt deeply satisfied with their online experiences. The same study also examined student and instructor attitudes, an objective of which was to develop a regression equation that might be used to predict three dependent variables: instructor ratings, course ratings, and amount learned by students. In contrast to the study done by Inman Kerwin, and Mayes (1999), our study compares the attitudes of both students and faculty toward online learning, with the objective of indentifying similarities and differences between them.
As the table shows, several significant differences were found. While both groups agreed that an advantage of taking an online class is the flexibility of class times, faculty respondents exhibited a significantly higher level of agreement than did the student respondents (Statement #1). Student respondents agreed more than did faculty respondents with the statement that no structured class meeting times were appealing to them; the latter group, in fact, disagreed with this statement (see Statement #7).
For students, more familiar with text messaging and instant messaging, "interaction" may not necessarily involve faceto-face contact. Student respondents showed a slight level of agreement with the statement that tests were more difficult in an online class, while faculty respondents disagreed with this statement (Statement #11). While both groups of respondents agreed that online classes basically require students to teach themselves the material, faculty respondents showed a significantly higher level of agreement (Statement #12).
Given the additional effort involved, especially in the initial stages, in designing and teaching an online course, it is not surprising that faculty generally may not be enamored with the pedagogy. With regard to statements for which there were no significant differences, both groups exhibited about the same level of agreement that the degree of interaction/lecture is greater in a regular classroom setting than in an online class (Statement #2). Both groups had about the same level of agreement that online courses allow students to study at their own pace (Statement #4). Both groups of respondents agreed that the textbook takes on a greater level of importance in an online class (Statement #10). With respect to course types, both groups showed about the same level of agreement with the statement that math and other quantitative courses are among the most difficult for college students (Statement #3). Both groups felt about the same regarding the statement that nonquantitative business courses should not be offered online (Statement #5); both groups were essentially neutral on this question. In order to explore these differences even further, significance tests were run between two groups of interstakeholders, including faculty vs. students who had taught/taken online classes before, and subsequently, faculty vs. students who had not taught/taken online classes before. When tests of significance were run between the first group of inter- stakeholder s - that is, those who had taught or taken online classes before - significant differences were found on five of the Likert-type statements. These differences are shown in Table 4.
As the table shows, the fact that an online class lacked a structured environment appealed to students, but not to faculty (Statement #7).
Faculty seem to miss the face-to-face interactions more than the students (Statement #9). Faculty respondents strongly disagreed that they would try to teach as many online classes as possible in the future, and this disagreement was significantly stronger than the students' attitudes about taking online classes in the future (Statement #8). It is likely that, had this faculty wanted to teach such a class, they already would have, and they probably have decided that they do not ever wish to do so. Students without online experience feel more strongly than faculty without such experience that tests in online classes are more difficult for students (Statement #11). This could be a part of the reason why these students have never taken an online class to date.
Faculty respondents showed a significantly higher level of agreement that online classes require students to teach themselves (Statement #12), while student respondents more strongly agreed that online classes require greater self-discipline on the part of the student (Statement #14). When asked if they thought the technology required for an online class increased the educational experience, even though they had no prior online class experience, the students showed a stronger level of agreement than the faculty with no experience, who in fact disagreed slightly (Statement #13). Results of this study suggest strongly that differences in perception about online learning persist between faculty and students.
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 6)
Active learning strategies in traditional classrooms will be compared to similar strategies in online classrooms. Criteria will be established for measuring the success of active learning in this environment.
A substantial amount of research has shown that there are no significant differences between the success of learning delivery in traditional and online classrooms (Twigg, 2003). The active learning strategies that may be applied in a traditional classroom environment may also be applied to the online classroom, as long as consideration is provided for the multiple learning styles of participants in both environments (Phillips, 2005).
Several strategies exist for creating an active learning classroom including: in class writing assignments, case studies, clickers, debates or discussions, individual or group projects, visual instruction and podcasting (Austin & Mescia, 2001).
Instructors must be prepared to use active learning strategies to help each style of learner. Visual learners in an online class have very specific needs. This type of learner does best with video presentations (Vincent & Ross, 2001).
Discussions/debates, group projects, and quizzes are great tools for an online action-oriented student (Vincent & Ross). Keeping these students busy and engaged in the learning process is critical. Reading or listening to directions will cause these students to lose focus, become disinterested and frustrated with the online course (Dewar & Whittington, 2000). Regardless of the medium in which they are presented, components of good active learning activities remain the same. These activities should contain the following components: a defined start and end, a focused objective, easy to read and complete directions, a means of feedback, and also an explanation of the technology being used in support of the exercise (Austin & Mescia, 2001). Several active learning strategies can be used in the online classroom as successfully as they can be in the traditional classroom.
Active learning success may be measured by using overall scores, just as in the traditional environment (Picciano, 2002). Just as active learning strategies facilitate increased interaction in the traditional classroom, these strategies make the online classroom more engaging for learners (Phillips, 2005).
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 3)
There can be map, grammar, and vocabulary games. Many of these activities have been used in general foreign language classes. They can be adapted to the specialized vocabulary of Spanish for Business which deals with accounting, finance, and marketing. Ms. Adelia Ruiz, a graduate student at Florida International University, invented a game for students in her Spanish for Business online class in which they would have to learn the vocabulary from the various chapters in the text in order to perform certain tasks which were involved in organizing a new company. Successful completion of each task allowed students to move up in the company until they finally managed to become the CEO of the new firm.
In classroom teaching, tests are usually the major tool for evaluating student learning.
A survey of instructors showed that an online class is between one-and-one-half to three times the amount of work for an instructor as compared to a face-to-face class (Hyslop, 1999).
Explaining changes in learning and work practice following the adoption of online learning : a human agency perspective (weight: 2)
The limitation is also mitigated by arguing for generalization through the theory to social settings sharing similar characteristics (Lee & Baskerville, 2003). This study prompts practical observations on the design of online learning applications in work settings. As a learning technology, LearnNet did little more than replicate materials designed for classroom learning at K Hospital and deploy them on the Internet.
Learning situated in practice is not easily replaced by canonical learning delivered via formal training or online classrooms.
Ask the experts: Online MBA 2009 (weight: 1)
Depending on your own learning styles, one type of learning environment may work better for you than the other. Some students report being more effective learners in the online setting as it allows them more time for reflection and for engaging in in-depth conversations around cases and class materials. LS: Again we are limited to commenting on our blended learning programme which combines both online and live classroom instruction.
The Barriers Come Down: Distance Education is the Way for Many (weight: 1)
The course work was mostly done online, with one month per year of in-class learning.
Watchdog goes online to boost consumer skills (weight: 1)
The OFT developed the toolkit with LLU+ at London South Bank University. It is designed for use by teachers in further education settings including colleges, community education and offender learning. "Skilled to go" is a flexible learning resource which can be incorporated into existing class material or used on its own. It has three modules: Buying and selling, Technology, and Utilities, and is available in variations for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to reflect the legal differences in each of the countries as well as relevant geographic examples and websites. Sam Brew, OFT Consumer Education Manager, said: "One of the OFT's most important tasks is to help consumers deal effectively with businesses and make informed buying decisions, both so that they get a good deal, and to ensure that markets across the UK function efficiently. This first step into the education sector reflects our desire to find new ways to help build consumers' skills, especially amongst more vulnerable groups, whether they are aged 16 or 80."
New Answers for E-Learning; Wikis and avatars are improving the educational experience (weight: 1)
Quick and thorough responses by professors. "The evidence shows the more access, more interaction, and more opportunities for feedback learners have from instructors, the better they do," says Christine Geith, the executive director of Michigan State's Global Online Connection. Geith, who earned her doctorate online, says she learned to seek out classes with professors who were available during more than just standard office hours. That means the best online teachers are easily accessible, if not by phone, then by E-mail, instant message, or some other method. Overseas students taking online courses stateside might prefer professors who use Skype or some other free long- distance service, for example, she notes. While some of his online courses took as little as one hour a week and were easy A's, Sierra College student Kerr says he'll seek out more online courses like his art history class. He says he finds the best classes by checking with classmates and researching professors on sites like ratemyprofessors.com. The six or so hours a week he figures he spent on the art history class was less than he typically gives to a traditional class, but much of that time is spent commuting or sitting bored in a classroom, he says. During his online class hours, he was immersed in research, thinking, writing--and learning.
A New direction For Executive Education? (weight: 1)
At ISM's Knowledge Center, online class offerings have been expanded to include coursework crafted with input from more than 30 organizations-such as Accenture's Supply Chain Academy-and from professional associations, industry consortia and educational institutions. "We've seen more adoption of online education," says Terri Tracey, ISM's vice president of technology and head of its Center for Strategic Supply Leadership.
E-learning: The Relationship Among Learner Satisfaction, Self-efficacy, and Usefulness (weight: 1)
Employees could sign themselves off in the middle of an online class to attend to other workrelated tasks and return at a later date to the same place without having to start at the beginning of the training. This is not possible in a traditional classroom environment. If an employee had to leave a training session early, that session would have to be rescheduled at a later date convenient both to the trainer and the other members of the class.
Get Value from Online Training (weight: 1)
Today's technology allows for learning from anywhere, at any time, at a quality equal to traditional classroom learning.
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 1)
Faculty also agreed more strongly that online tests are more difficult to administer, and that online courses require students to teach themselves more than in a traditional class. Both groups exhibited about the same level of agreement that the flexible class times in an online class is an advantage for the student and for the faculty. They also agreed that quantitative courses in online settings are among the most difficult for college students, but both were almost neutral as to whether or not more non-quantitative business courses should be offered online. Both groups had about the same level of agreement that online course formats allow students to study at their own pace, and that online courses appeal to many students because such courses have no required, official classroom setting. Both groups also agreed that the textbook is more important in an online class than in a traditional class, and that online courses require more self-discipline by students than traditional courses. With respect to disagreement, both groups disagreed that online tests are more difficult for students. Lastly, both groups exhibited the same level of slight disagreement with the statement that the technology required for an online class adds to the educational value of the online experience, administrators being essentially neutral on this issue.
LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS (15 documents)
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 10)
Interest mining in virtual learning environments (weight: 7)
The Multifaceted Nature of Online MBA Student Satisfaction and Impacts on Behavioral Intentions (weight: 3)
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 3)
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 3)
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 2)
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 2)
Explaining changes in learning and work practice following the adoption of online learning : a human agency perspective (weight: 2)
It's [Not] the Technology, Stupid (weight: 2)
Ask the experts: Online MBA 2009 (weight: 1)
E-learning: your flexible development friend? (weight: 1)
Quasi-Facial Communication for Online Learning Using 3D Modeling Techniques (weight: 1)
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 1)
E-learning: The Relationship Among Learner Satisfaction, Self-efficacy, and Usefulness (weight: 1)
An Empirical Investigation of Virtual Interaction in Supporting Learning (weight: 1)
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 10)
Rather than using research to help replicate what is done in the traditional classroom, researchers should focus on identifying what is done well in the online learning environment.
In the present study, we measured the level of student engagement in online learning in undergraduate education using specific dimensions of engagement considered to be effective educational practices: level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, and enriching educational experiences (Kuh, 2001). That measurement was a first step toward the broader application of student engagement, from the traditional classroom to the online learning environment. In our survey research, students were required to complete an online selfadministered questionnaire relating to their experiences as students in online learning environments.
Modification of the NSSE instrument involved analyzing the applicability of each research question to the online learning environment.
All five levels of mental activities-namely memorization, analysis, synthesis, making judgment, and application-were prevalent in the online learning environment.
Learning with peers is the key to collaborative learning (Benbunan-Fich et al., 2005). Peer tutoring is a form of idea sharing in the collaborative learning environment in which students can freely conduct their own inquiry in self-directed groups (Kemery, 2000). Almost half of the students had never tutored their peers.
When technology is employed to foster a rich learning environment, meaningful experiences are created that contribute to a person's growth and development (El-Khawas et al., 2003).
Men were disproportionately more engaged in memorization work, whereas women were somewhat more engaged in analysis, making judgment, and application work. Hiltz and Shea (2005) suggested that women are more comfortable in the online learning environment than are men and that this may be because of the female students' higher verbal skills and greater inclination toward collaborative learning approaches.
Though the student has the responsibility to engage in academic activities, it is the faculty member's role to create purposeful course designs that promote interaction, participation, and communication in the online learning environment (Johnson, 2003; Weiss et al., 2000).
The online learning environment is an ideal setting to promote greater involvement in mental capacities.
The online curriculum should actively engage students through challenging academic rigor, consistent and timely student-faculty interaction, a collaborative learning environment, and activities that enrich the development of the student.
Interest mining in virtual learning environments (weight: 7)
Abstract (Summary) Purpose - Behaviour in virtual learning environments (VLE), including travel, gaze, manipulate, gesture and conversation, offer considerable information about the user's implicit interest. The purpose of this study is to find an approach for user interest mining via behaviour analysis in a VLE. Design/methodology/approach - According to research in psychology, any interaction in a VLE has implications for the user's implicit interest.
In a traditional educational setting the educators can obtain feedback directly from students through face-to-face interaction and behaviour analysis ( Sheard et al., 2003). In the electronic learning environment it is impossible to have this feedback.
Adaptive and intelligent web-based educational systems have been seen as a solution for enriching the learning environment for the individual.
Unfortunately, there is a single log file for all students. This consists of a set of log files, one per student, and contains information about the interaction of the user with the system. This consists of a set of log files of caching between client browsers and web servers. This information complements the server log file. Using these log files, web-based learning environments are able to record most learning behaviours of the students, and hence are able to provide a huge amount of learning profile ( Romero and Ventura, 2007). Because they have different data sources and objectives, it is necessary to deal separately with web mining applications in different types of e-learning systems.
Web mining can be used in order to discover the causes of problems in the system, for example, incorrect feedback statements ( Nilakant and Mitrovic, 2005), to adapt the level to the progress of the learner ( Romero et al., 2004), to suggest personalised learning experiences and activities for the students ( Tang and McCalla, 2005). In this paper, we focus on web mining applications in the virtual learning environment (VLE), which is similar to web mining in AIWBES. Next, we will describe some detail issues of web mining in VLE.
The virtual learning environment (VLE) is a learning environment where the necessary interaction and collaboration takes place in the virtual world of web and Internet-based applications.
The main difference between a VLE and other web-based learning environments is the possibility of communication and collaboration with peers and tutors within the same virtual environment that holds the content. VLE is not restricted to systems including some 3D/virtual reality technology ( Dillenbourg, 2000), but in this paper we focus on the Web3D VLE. The use of Web3D in education presents many of the advantages with respect to traditional learning practice. It provides a wide range of rich experiences, some of which are impossible to experience in the real world because of cost, danger, or for some other reason.
The Multifaceted Nature of Online MBA Student Satisfaction and Impacts on Behavioral Intentions (weight: 3)
Past researchers focused most often on the role of the instructor in the online MBA learning environment.
Our study design follows the virtuallearning environment model (Alavi & Gallupe, 2003; Piccoli, Ahmed, & Ives, 2001). This model presents two dimensions as important to virtual learning environments: human and design.
The present study is an empirical test of an adaptation of the virtual learning environment models introduced by Piccoli et al. (2001) and Alavi and Gallupe (2003).
Active Learning Strategies for Computer Information Systems Education in Online Courses (weight: 3)
Current methods in higher education are evolving away from static lecture based classrooms to a learning environment where students actively engage in the learning process (Strage, 2008).
Podcasting- The use of audio files to deliver content to learners allows students to hear the instructors voice, to pick up on the subtle verbal cues that an instructor may provide, and to engage in a portable and interactive course segment (Stephen, 2005). When creating an online course environment, it is important for the course developer to consider fundamental design practices, including: understanding the context and learning environment, developing strategies to support learning such as directions and sources of information, learner assessment, and designing with active learner participation in mind (Austin & Mescia, 2001). These design principles must be fit to the topic and content of the course, beginning with the basic instructional design and continuing with good teaching practices (Austin & Mescia).
A number of metrics may be used to determine success in the online learning environment.
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 3)
Our goal in designing the participatory examination is to motivate students' active engagement and deep learning in a virtual learning environment.
Students are authorized to participate in the entire exam life cycle including creating, grading as well as answering the exam questions, which all takes place in a virtual learning environment. Although each student individually answers his or her questions, all students in ALN can see the questions, answers and grading commentaries of others, thus fostering a collaborative learning environment.
Based on student feedback each semester, we tried to improve the participatory exam control procedure, to provide a better constructivist learning environment (see table 1).
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 2)
Concise timeframes, clear assignments, specific deliverables, and unambiguous due dates are essential to provide the sense of understanding and control that will foster an effective online learning environment and make it possible for students to feel comfortable and motivated. An individual professor preparing an online course first focuses on thorough planning, but a key part of that is his or her philosophical view of online teaching. What should an online course be and do? What is the vision and how should teaching online really work? What should be done versus what can or cannot be done? These are basic questions with which every online instructor must grapple, first in designing online coursework and then again more pointedly when teaching the course.
An online course designed for fifteen to twenty students is necessarily a different kind of course from one designed for thirty-five or fifty. It is unwise to take a class designed for twenty students and enroll forty or fifty in it. Much of what has been said in this paper deals with motivating students to succeed in an online learning environment.
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 2)
One survey found that most first year information technology majors and financial information systems majors perceived learning to be more fun and of better quality within a technology-enhanced online learning environment (Parker, 2003). A supporting theme is indicated in a study done by Hannay and Newvine (2006), the results of which suggest that students who take online courses perceive a higher-level of quality in their educational endeavors.
None of the faculty respondents had ever taught online courses in business law or production management, and only slightly more than 6 percent had ever taught statistics or management science courses online, which may allude to the difficulties associated with offering quantitative courses in an online learning environment. It would appear that the offering of online courses in business is still in the early or developmental stages, and yet it seems that business faculty have more exposure to online learning technology than their non-business counterparts (Tanner et al., 2004-2). A final observation from Table 2 is that, when asked what their maximum enrollment for an online course was, responses ranged from 0 to 100 students, with a mean slightly more than 30 students.
Explaining changes in learning and work practice following the adoption of online learning : a human agency perspective (weight: 2)
Organizations continue to allocate significant resources to build online learning environments (Lang & Zhao, 2000; Alavi & Gallupe, 2003), with the expectation that work performance will improve. In work contexts, desired benefits from online learning occur when learners maintain skills and acquire new knowledge that is incorporated directly into their work practices.
Online learning initiatives often underestimate the extent to which content must be adapted to online learning environments (Hsiao et al., 2006). As such, online learning may appear discordant with regular work demands, thereby contributing to the dilemmas that prospective users face. Such issues may be overlooked prior to implementation when attention is placed on the future promise of new IT applications.
It's [Not] the Technology, Stupid (weight: 2)
Problems usually arise with bandwidth or firewalls, not the technology itself. Ensure that the IT department is apprised of a new class star so they are ready to help. Learners ask, "Can I use the technology successfully?" Although many online software packages, both synchronous and asynchronous, are touted by vendors as easy-to-use, participants need the opportunity to acclimate themselves to this new learning environment so that participation in the blend and collaboration with other participants is effortless. A formalized learning orientation should be developed to ensure that these concerns are resolved prior to delivery of critical content.
The remedy is simple: the team that is creating and delivering the blended curriculum needs training to create an interactive, engaging learning environment. It entails much more than inserting existing slides into a virtual classroom or an asynchronous content development tool.
Ask the experts: Online MBA 2009 (weight: 1)
Depending on your own learning styles, one type of learning environment may work better for you than the other. Some students report being more effective learners in the online setting as it allows them more time for reflection and for engaging in in-depth conversations around cases and class materials. LS: Again we are limited to commenting on our blended learning programme which combines both online and live classroom instruction.
E-learning: your flexible development friend? (weight: 1)
E-learning also provides a relatively anonymous learning environment, so there is less pressure to perform well in front of colleagues as might sometimes be the case in classroom-style training. This safe environment allows individuals to tackle very personal issues. Recently, Amazing Education launched a pioneering new online course for working mums, aimed at helping them juggle family and career - an example of when people might want to explore their situation in an anonymous environment.
Quasi-Facial Communication for Online Learning Using 3D Modeling Techniques (weight: 1)
The application in distance learning is very encouraging for supporting a vivid online learning environment.
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 1)
Action learning projects become more important in the online learning environment.
E-learning: The Relationship Among Learner Satisfaction, Self-efficacy, and Usefulness (weight: 1)
"Once researchers gain a better understanding of factors associated with student success in online learning environments, employers will then be able to positively influence student outcomes" (Tresman, 2002, p. 3).
An Empirical Investigation of Virtual Interaction in Supporting Learning (weight: 1)
Although there is a wide variability in the results of research that compares technology-supported learning to traditional classroom learning, three recent meta-analyses, which together include more than two hundred distance education studies, reveal the same finding: interaction is the key to effective distance education (Bernard et al., 2004; Lou et al., 2006; Zhao et al., 2005). These studies found that interaction with instructors and other students, either face-to-face or through an electronic medium, is a consistent and reliable predictor of positive learning outcomes (both achievement and satisfaction) in distance education programs, especially in asynchronous ones (Bernard et al., 2004). Students perceive a lack of interaction in online learning to be the most severe barrier to their learning performance (Muilenburg & Berge, 2005). One of these meta-analyses further indicates that different types of interaction tend to distinguish the effectiveness of distance education (Zhao et al., 2005).
ONLINE EXPERIENCES (13 documents)
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 9)
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 4)
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 4)
An Empirical Investigation of Virtual Interaction in Supporting Learning (weight: 4)
BUSINESS SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS' AND FACULTY PERCEPTIONS OF ONLINE LEARNING : A COMPARATIVE STUDY (weight: 2)
Brick walls to distance-teaching in the east may soon crumble ASIAN BUSINESS SCHOOLS: Unexpected costs and complexities have stalled web progress, reports William Barnes; [SURVEYS EDITION] (weight: 1)
The Multifaceted Nature of Online MBA Student Satisfaction and Impacts on Behavioral Intentions (weight: 1)
360 commissioning: Degrees of success (weight: 1)
Distance Learning for Continuing Education (weight: 1)
Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus Teaching Conventionally (weight: 1)
What Can Training Do for Brown? (weight: 1)
Engaging Students with Constructivist Participatory Examinations in Asynchronous Learning Networks (weight: 1)
New Benchmarks in Higher Education: Student Engagement in Online Learning (weight: 1)
Business Faculty and Undergraduate Students' Perceptions of Online Learning : A Comparative Study (weight: 9)
Myers et al. (2004) examined the motivation by faculty to teach online learning classes. The results of their study suggest that faculty are interested in teaching online learning classes, mostly for purposes of updating their curriculum vitae and for learning new teaching skills. Younger and less experienced faculty members are more likely to embrace online learning than their older and more experienced counterparts. Another study, which compared the attitudes of (nonbusiness) instructors and students at several community colleges, revealed an interesting dichotomy in terms of points- of- view (Inman, Kerwin, and Mayes, 1999). Specifically, in this study, the instructors rated the quality of their online courses as equal to or lower than their traditional counterparts, whereas the students felt deeply satisfied with their online experiences. The same study also examined student and instructor attitudes, an objective of which was to develop a regression equation that might be used to predict three dependent variables: instructor ratings, course ratings, and amount learned by students. In contrast to the study done by Inman Kerwin, and Mayes (1999), our study compares the attitudes of both students and faculty toward online learning, with the objective of indentifying similarities and differences between them.
As indicated in the motivation section, prior research has focused separately on student attitudes (Tanner, Noser, Langford, 2003; Tanner et al., 2004-1; Tanner et al., 2004-2; Tanner et al., 2006) and on faculty attitudes (Totaro et al., 2005). Because the present study compares attitudes about online learning between two groups - students and faculty it may prove useful to elaborate somewhat on the results of this prior research. Results from a study done by Tanner, Noser, and Langford (2003) suggest that factors such as age and gender do not play a significant part in undergraduate business students' perceptions of online learning. Significant differences in perception by these students seem to exist between those who had previous online experience as compared with those students who had no prior online experience.
Specifically, students with prior online experience appeared to view online courses more favorably than students who had no prior online experience.
The decision to use a random sample of faculty members throughout the United States as opposed to using only one or two institutions was to gain insight from a diversity of attitudes and perceptions from many different faculty members and many different institutions. In order to assure anonymity, no effort was made to group respondents by respondent or by their institutions. This modified instrument contained demographic questions on gender, rank, years of teaching experience, employment status, tenure status, and whether or not the faculty member had ever taught an online course.
Greater than sixty percent of students were majoring in some area of business, while the remaining thirty-nine percent were non-business majors. Regarding online course experience, over twenty-one percent of the respondents had taken an online course prior to completing this questionnaire.
The average number of years of college teaching experience for all faculty respondents was 18.6 years. When asked if they had ever taught an online course, slightly less than 31 percent of the faculty respondents answered in the affirmative. Of this group, the top two disciplines which had been taught online were accounting and finance, closely followed by marketing. Of those respondents who had online experience, 19.2 percent had taught accounting, 19.2 percent had taught finance, while 18 percent had taught marketing online.
Note that our respondents differ significantly in age: 67% of the student respondents were below 22 years of age, while the average years of teaching experience for the faculty respondents was 18.6 years.
Faculty respondents without prior online teaching experience exhibited significantly more agreement with the statement that an advantage to students is the flexible class times associated with online classes - students with no prior online experience also agreed, but the faculty agreement level was significantly higher (Statement #1). Faculty respondents in this category felt a stronger level of agreement that meeting outside the classroom was important to them than did the students (Statement #6).
Faculty seem to miss the face-to-face interactions more than the students (Statement #9). Faculty respondents strongly disagreed that they would try to teach as many online classes as possible in the future, and this disagreement was significantly stronger than the students' attitudes about taking online classes in the future (Statement #8). It is likely that, had this faculty wanted to teach such a class, they already would have, and they probably have decided that they do not ever wish to do so. Students without online experience feel more strongly than faculty without such experience that tests in online classes are more difficult for students (Statement #11). This could be a part of the reason why these students have never taken an online class to date.
Online Education Forum - Part Three A Quality Online Educational Experience (weight: 4)
Within that context, thorough advanced planning is critical for assuring a quality online experience for the students (Evans, 2001; Starke-Meyerring and Andrews, 2006). A professor must articulate in detail exactly what he or she wants to accomplish every step of the way through the course before beginning.
The tendency is for inexperienced online teachers to minimize communicating with students. This is a characteristic of the'sink or swim' mentality. Tell the students what is to be done; and they either do it; or they do not. This approach is too harsh for most experienced online educators. Students need to be met where they are and guided in a process of learning using Internet tools and technologies.
What really needs to be fostered is a higher level of interaction among the students and the teacher, a sharing of the intellectual journey in an online course experience.
For an established online class with an experienced online teacher, perhaps twenty-five or maybe even thirty students would be a workable number. A class with too many students will degenerate mostly into a modern version of an old-fashioned 'correspondence course.' This really means missing out on the emerging opportunities for effective online interaction.
Re-learning Teaching Techniques to be Effective in Hybrid and Online Courses (weight: 4)
Experienced online teachers, however, suggest a different approach - a new tool.
Experienced online teachers recommend putting the responsibility for learning on the students (Collis, 1995, Volery, 2001). Assign them the readings, projects, and homework and hold them responsible for learning the material. This means the teacher's job is to de